F-53 

62625 


MAKY  CLARK  BARNES 
LEMUEL  CALL  BARNES 


JV  6455  .B2 

Barnes,  Mary  Emelia  (Clark 
The  new  America 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 
A  STUDY  IN  IMMIGRATION 


Interdenominational 
Home  Mission  Study  Course 

Each  Volume  i2mo,  cloth,  50c.  net 
(post.  7c.)  ;  paper,  30c.  net  (post,  jc.) 


Under  Our  Flag 
By  Alice  M.  Guernsey 

The  Call  of  the  Waters 
By  Katharine  R.  Crowell 

From  Darkness  to  Light 
By  Mary  Helm 

Conservation  of  National  Ideals 
A  Symposium 

MormonisfH,  The  Islam  of  America 
By  Bruce  Kinney^  D.D. 

The  New  America 

By  Mary  Clark  Barnes  and  Dr.  L.  C.  Barnes 
Supplementary 


America,  God's  Meliing-Pot 
By  Laura  Gerould  Craig 

Paper,  net  25c.  (post.  4c.) 


JUNIOR  COURSE 


Cloth,  net  40c.  (post,  sc.) ;  paper,  net  25c.  (post.  4c.) 

Best  Things  in  America 
By  Katharine  R.  Crowell 

Some  Immigrant  Neis^hbours 
By lohn  R.  Henry,  D.D. 

Paper,  net  a5c.  (post  4c.) 

Comrades  from  Other  Lands 
By  Leila  Allen  Dimock 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


A  STUDY  IN  IMMIGRATION 


CHAPTERS  I  TO  IV 

BY  ^ 

MARY  CLARK  BARNES 

CHAPTERS  V  AND  VI 
BY 

LEMUEL  CALL^BARNES 


ILLUSTRATED 


New  York         Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming   H.  Revell  Company 

London       and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1913,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


By  MARY  CLARK  BARNES 

Eaily  Stories  and  Song*  (or  Nrw  Students  of 
English.  Illustrated,  i6mo,  cloth,  net  .60. 
Paper,  net  .35. 

Through  the  medium  of  these  stories  and 
RonK»,  teachers  knowing  only  English  have 
given  to  pupils  of  different  nationalities  the 
ability  to  speak,  read  and  write  the  English  re- 
quired for  practical  use. 

Dr.  Hdvuard  A.  Sleiner  says:   "Not  only 

radical,  but  it  affords  easy  transition  to  the 

igher  things." 


By  LEMUEL  C.  BARNES.  D.D. 

Elemental  Forces  in  Home  Missions,  ismo, 

cloth,  net  .75. 

As  the  author  of  that  popular  missionary 
text-book,  "Two  Thousand  Years  of  Missions 
before  Carey,"  and  as  th»  long-time  .Secretary 
of  one  of  the  largest  Home  Missionary  organi- 
zations in  this  country.  Dr.  Barnes  commands 
a  hearing  from  the  religious  world.  Some  of 
the  most  important  issues  connected  with  the 
work  of  Christianizing  America  are  jjresented 
with  breadth,  clearness,  force  and  conviction. 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  125  N.  Wabash  Aye. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


Strangers  within  Our  Gates 


CONTENTS 


I.  Beginnings  15 

The  immigration  problem  as  old  as  the  New  America 
— Phases  of  the  problem  manifested  in  development  of 
original  colonies — Virginia  cavaliers — Plymouth  Pil- 
grims—  Massachusetts  Bay  Puritans — Connecticut — 
Educational  problems — Development  of  religious  lib- 
erty— Dutch  and  English  in  New  York — Delaware — 
Pennsylvania — New  Jersey  —  Maryland — The  Caro- 
linas— Georgia — The  Revolutionary  Ideal. 

II.  Development   .......  39 

Expression  of  nation's  intellectual  power — Inventions 
— Explorations — Acquisition  of  new  territory — Im- 
migration attracted  by  industrial  opportunities — 
— Sources  and  character  of  immigration — Assisted  im- 
migration—  Illiteracy  —  Changing  conditions  in  Ger- 
many— Conditions  affecting  Scandinavian  immigra- 
tion— Diversion  of  British  emigration  to  British  colo- 
nies— Forced  immigration  from  Africa — Its  cost  in 
"irrepressible  conflict" — The  Civil  War  a  test  of  pre- 
ceding immigration — Immigration  following  the  Civil 
War. 


III.  Additional  European  Elements        .       .  61 

The  "  New  Immigration  " — Dominant  racial  factors — 
Italians — Slavs  —  Russian  Jews — Russian  Christians 
— Austria-Hungary — Slovaks — Magyars — Other  races 
of  Austria-Hungary — Polish  immigration — Bohemians 
— Balkans — Does  America  need  the  "New  Immigra- 
tion "  ? 


IV.  Tendencies  83 

Control  of  immigration — Tests  of  admission — Average 
age  of  admitted  immigrants — Findings  of  the  Immi- 
gration Commission  concerning  alcoholism — Insanity 
— Pauperism — Sanitary  conditions  in  dwellings — Agri- 
cultural pursuits — Wage  earning — Criminality — Juve- 
nile delinquency — Majority  of  "  New  Immigration" 


CONTENTS 


unacquainted  with  source  of  American  ideals — Testi- 
mony of  Professor  John  R.  Green — Responsibility  of 
Christian  patriots. 

V.  Asiatic  Influences  103 

All  continents  contribute  to  stream  of  life  in  America 
— Asia  gave  us  our  Bible  and  our  Saviour — Growing 
influence  of  Jews — Syrian,  Armenian  and  other  con- 
tingents from  Western  Asia — From  Eastern  Asia, 
Chinese,  Japanese,  Koreans  and  East  Indians — Reli- 
gions of  Eastern  Asia  winning  many  Americans — Our 
influence  on  Asia  by  our  treatment  of  Asiatics  in 
America  and  by  direct  missions  to  them,  local,  denom- 
inational and  inter-denominational  —  Hundreds  of 
students  as  well  as  laborers — Asiatics  within  our 
gates  the  greatest  challenge  of  human  history. 

VI.  Guiding  and  Inspiring  Agencies  .       .  .129 

State  agencies  for  selection,  distribution,  naturaliza- 
tion, education  and  protection  of  immigrants — Society 
agencies  classified  as  general  and  racial — "  Homes" — 
Labor  Unions — Young  People's  Associations— Social 
Settlements  —  Church  agencies,  inter-denominational 
(six  named),  denominational,  carefully  analyzed  and 
summarized,  and  local  church  with  institutional, 
branch  and  individual  work — Imperial  possibilities  of 
the  future. 


Appendix  153 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Landing  at  Ellis  Island    ....  Frontispiece 

Finnish  Family       .......  42 

Rumanian  Shepherds      ......  58 

The  Worker    .  71 

Greek  Bride  and  Bridegroom  .....  79 
Chinese  Children's  Choir  no 


\ 


I 

BEGINNINGS 


Every  other  civilization  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  is 
so  much  older  than  that  of  America  that  we  can  take  much  for 
granted.  But  with  America  it  is  different.  The  why  and  the 
wherefore  is  the  constant  question ;  the  meaning  of  it  all  can 
only  be  understood  by  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  funda- 
mental. .  .  . 

In  America  man  stands  face  to  face  with  a  civilization  in  the 
making. — A.  Maurice  Low. 

I  incline  to  think  that  the  future  of  America  is  of  greater 
importance  to  Christendom  at  large  than  that  of  any  other 
country. — William  Ewart  Gladstone. 


BEGINNINGS 


THE  New  America  began  with  the  permanent 
settlement  of  the  Enghsh  at  Jamestown  in 
May,  1607.    Their  coming  brought  a  serious 
immigration  problem  to  native  Americans. 

For  more  than  a  century  the  vision  of  a  "  New 
World  "  had  fascinated  European  minds  and  had  led 
many  an  expedition  across  the  sea  in  search  of  a  shorter 
passage  to  the  riches  of  India,  or  in  hope  of  finding 
even  greater  riches  in  the  precious  metals  of  America. 
Gold  was  the  lure,  not  only  of  Spanish  adventurers,  but 
no  less  of  English  noblemen  and  merchants  in  suc- 
cessive excursions  to  these  shores  in  the  sixteenth 
century. 

The  first  colonial  charter  granted  to  Englishmen  for 
purposes  of  settlement  in  the  "  New  World "  was 
conditioned  on  "  homage  and  rent."  The  tract  of 
land  so  granted  was  known  as  Virginia  and  included 
twelve  degrees  on  the  American  coast,  extending  from 
Cape  Fear  to  Halifax.  The  stipulated  "  rent  "  was 
one-fifth  of  the  net  produce  of  gold  and  silver  and  one- 
fifteenth  of  the  copper. 

Gradually  the  golden  mirage  enveloping  the  New 
World  faded  in  the  clear  light  of  experience,  and  the 
New  America  emerged  as  a  place  of  ample  returns  for 

15 


16 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


the  investment  of  persevering  labor  and  a  place  of 
refuge  for  the  oppressed  and  the  poor. 

Each  of  our  original  thirteen  colonies  had  its  own 
phase  of  the  "  Immigration  Problem  "  to  solve.  In 
some  cases  the  phase  of  that  "  Problem  "  which  was 
committed  to  a  colony  baffled  solution  and  led  to  delay 
in  the  making  of  the  New  America. 

VIRGINIA 

A  notable  instance  was  that  of  the  attempt  to  colo- 
nize Virginia  in  1606  under  a  patent  granted  by  King 
James  I.  The  immigrants,  one  hundred  and  five  in 
number,  included  twelve  laborers  and  "  a  very  few 
mechanics."  There  were  forty-eight  "gentlemen"  to 
four  carpenters.   There  were  no  men  with  families. 

This  company  of  men  was  commissioned  to  form 
a  permanent  American  colony  which  was  to  be  "  the 
chosen  abode  of  liberty."  The  code  of  laws  by  which 
they  were  to  be  governed  was  framed  by  the  King  of 
England.  Religion  was  "  established  "  according  to 
the  doctrine  and  rites  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
dissent  was  forbidden.  Tumults  and  seditions  were 
punishable  by  death.  Legislative  authority  over  the 
colony  in  affairs,  great  and  small,  was  the  prerogative 
of  the  English  king,  only. 

It  may  have  been  due  to  the  disparity  in  numbers 
of  "  gentlemen  "  and  carpenters  and  other  workmen  in 
the  wilderness  colony  that  within  six  months  many 
died  of  privation  and  suffering,  and  those  who  re- 
mained reported  of  their  experiences,  "  Our  lodgings 
were  castles  in  the  air;  had  we  been  as  free  from  all 


BEGINNINGS 


17 


sins  as  from  gluttony  and  drunkenness,  we  might  have 
been  canonized  for  saints." 

The  coming  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  new  immi- 
grants with  fresh  suppHes  from  England  brought  a 
return  of  hope  to  the  suffering  colonists  until  it  was 
found  that  the  newcomers  were  "  chiefly  vagabond 
gentlemen,"  and  goldsmiths,  intent  on  digging  gold 
from  the  earth  rather  than  on  industriously  building 
that  "  chosen  abode  of  Liberty  "  which  had  been  their 
original  aim. 

After  the  coming  of  a  third  company  of  immigrants, 
John  Smith,  then  president  of  the  council,  wrote  to 
the  promoters  of  the  enterprise  in  England,  "  I  entreat 
you  rather  send  but  thirty  carpenters,  husbandmen, 
gardeners,  fishermen,  blacksmiths,  masons,  and  dig- 
gers-up  of  trees'  roots,  well  provided,  than  a  thousand 
of  such  as  we  have." 

In  1609,  after  the  ships  had  gone  and  the  colony 
was  left  to  face  its  problem  afresh.  President  Smith 
required  industry  of  all.  "  He  who  would  not  work 
might  not  eat."  So  it  came  about  that  "  gentlemen  " 
became  "  accomplished  wood-cutters."  In  the  follow- 
ing spring  thirty  or  forty  acres  of  ground  were 
"  digged  and  planted,"  the  culture  of  Indian  corn  being 
taught  by  two  savages. 

Slowly  but  surely  the  lesson  of  industry  was  learned 
by  the  survivors  of  the  company  commissioned  to  found 
the  "  chosen  abode  of  liberty  "  in  the  New  America. 
The  problem  of  the  creation  of  a  free  commonwealth 
by  immigrants  to  whom  all  freedom  was  denied  by 
their  rulers  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea  was  finally 
rejected  as  insoluble. 


18 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


In  May,  1609,  "  the  immigration  problem "  was 
again  submitted  to  Virginia  under  a  second  charter 
involving  new  conditions.  The  powers  which  had  been 
held  by  the  king  were  transferred  to  the  company  in 
England.  The  colonization  of  the  land  was  entrusted 
to  "  a  very  numerous  and  opulent  and  influential  body 
of  adventurers,  representing  the  nobility  and  gentry, 
the  army  and  the  bar,  the  industry  and  the  trade  of 
England."  Lord  Delaware  was  made  governor  and 
captain-general  for  life. 

More  than  five  hundred  immigrants  left  Eng- 
land at  the  first  sailing  to  work  out  the  solution  of 
"  the  immigration  problem  "  in  Virginia  under  this 
new  charter.  Within  a  year  of  their  landing  the 
whole  number  of  colonists,  including  these  new  ar- 
rivals, was  sixty — "  reduced  to  that  number,"  says  the 
record,  "  by  indolence,  vice  and  famine." 

In  16 19  a  new  solution  was  attempted.  Kings,  par- 
liaments, privileged  companies,  titled  noblemen,  all 
had  failed.  As  a  last  resort  the  colonists  were  to 
attempt  the  management  of  their  own  affairs.  On  the 
thirtieth  day  of  July  delegates  from  the  eleven  planta- 
tions of  Virginia  met  at  Jamestown  for  their  first 
Assembly.  The  session  was  opened  with  prayer. 
Then  the  Assembly  proceeded  to  investigate  and  pass 
upon  the  proper  election  of  its  members  in  a  manner 
quite  modern. 

The  Church  of  England  was  confirmed  as  the  church 
of  Virginia.  The  salaries  of  ministers  were  fixed  and 
it  was  enacted  that  "  all  persons  whatsoever,  on  Sab- 
bath days,  must  frequent  divine  service  and  sermons 
both  forenoon  and  afternoon."    Grants  of  land  were 


BEGINNINGS 


19 


asked  not  only  for  planters,  but  for  planters'  wives, 
also,  "  because  in  a  new  plantation,  it  is  not  known 
whether  man  or  woman  be  the  most  necessary." 

Taxes  were  voted  on  "  excess  in  apparel."  Penal- 
ties for  idleness  were  appointed,  and  for  drunkenness, 
and  for  gaming  with  dice  or  cards.  Encouragement 
was  offered  for  the  cultivation  of  corn,  mulberry-trees, 
hemp  and  vines.  Measures  were  adopted  "  towards 
the  erection  of  a  university  and  college,"  and  for  "  the 
education  of  Indian  boys  who  might  work  for  the  con- 
version of  their  people  to  the  Christian  religion." 

Whatever  opinion  may  be  held  concerning  any  par- 
ticular enactment  of  this  "  first  elective  body  that  ever 
assembled  in  the  western  world,"  its  records  are  of 
perpetual  value  as  indicating  the  judgment  of  the 
colonists  as  to  their  own  needs. 

In  view  of  current  discussion  of  the  different  mo- 
tives actuating  the  "  new  immigration  "  in  comparison 
with  the  "  old,"  it  is  to  be  noted  that  economic  con- 
siderations dominated  the  early  settlement  of  Vir- 
ginia. Neither  the  social  order,  ecclesiastical  regula- 
tions nor  political  forms  of  England  were  repugnant 
to  these  early  immigrants.  They  came  quite  frankly 
for  the  purpose  of  bettering  their  material  condition, 
as  well  as  for  the  enlargement  of  the  domain  of  Eng- 
land and  in  the  hope  of  "  wynning  the  savages  to  the 
Christian  faith." 

The  Anglican  church  remained  the  established 
church  of  the  colony  for  about  a  century.  In  general, 
the  social  ideal  of  the  colonists  was  a  reproduction 
of  the  life  of  England  of  their  time.  A  landed  aristoc- 
racy was  promoted  by  the  provision  that  a  planter 


20 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


might  claim  fifty  additional  acres  of  land  for  every 
person  whom  he  would  transport  into  Virginia  at  his 
own  cost.  The  lack  of  popular  education  made  it  diffi- 
cult to  bridge  the  gulf  between  classes. 

THE  PILGRIMS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND 

Out  of  the  same  England  and  nearly  at  the  same 
period  as  the  permanent  settlers  of  Virginia,  came  the 
colonists  of  New  England,  but  with  a  totally  different 
immigration  problem.  They  yielded  to  none  in  love 
for  Old  England  and  in  loyalty  to  her  sovereign,  but 
they  found  themselves  at  variance  with  her  restrictions, 
both  civil  and  ecclesiastical. 

The  Reformation,  whose  influence  had  affected  all 
Europe,  had  touched  England.  But  in  bringing  relief 
from  the  dominion  of  the  Pope  of  Rome  it  had  not 
been  able  to  free  the  people  from  the  despotic  rule  of 
the  King  of  England.  Henry  VIII.  became  "  pope  in 
his  own  dominions."  In  1539,  through  his  influence, 
a  statute  was  enacted  "  abolishing  diversity  of  opin- 
ions." Death  was  decreed  equally  for  denying  the 
king's  supremacy  and  for  doubting  his  creed. 

Those  who  held  strong  convictions  of  the  need  of 
reform  within  the  established  church  and  against  the 
exercise  of  civil  power  in  the  domain  of  religion  gained 
the  title  of  Puritans,  given  in  derision  by  those  who 
were  content  with  the  existing  order  and  who  resented 
any  suggestion  of  change. 

Queen  Elizabeth's  "  Commission  for  Causes  Ec- 
clesiastical," appointed  to  search  out  "  heretical  opin- 
ions, seditious  books,  absences  from  divine  worship 


BEGINNINGS 


21 


established  by  law,  errors,  heresies  and  schisms,"  and 
to  deal  severely  with  all  found  guilty,  relighted  the 
fires  of  persecution. 

In  1608  a  company  of  Independents  in  the  north 
of  England,  having  chosen  John  Robinson  and  Wil- 
liam Brewster, — both  Cambridge  men, — their  pastor 
and  ruling  elder,  emigrated  to  Holland,  "  where  they 
heard  was  freedom  of  religion  for  all  men."  After  a 
year  in  Amsterdam,  recognizing  themselves  as  pilgrims, 
they  moved  on  to  Leyden.  But  they  preferred  to  live, 
if  possible,  under  the  government  of  their  native  land. 
They  began  to  consider  "  the  most  northern  parts  of 
Virginia  "  as  a  region  where  they  might  "  live  in  a  dis- 
tinct body  by  themselves." 

Taking  counsel  together,  they  agreed  that  "  It  is  not 
with  us  as  with  men  whom  small  things  can  discourage. 
The  people  are  industrious  and  frugal.  We  are  knit 
together  as  a  body  in  a  most  sacred  covenant  of  the 
Lord,  of  the  violation  whereof  we  make  great  con- 
science, and  by  virtue  whereof  we  hold  ourselves 
straitly  tied  to  all  care  of  each  other's  good  and  of 
the  whole." 

They  succeeded  in  forming  a  partnership  between 
their  Leyden  employers  and  some  business  men  in  Lon- 
don with  the  arrangement  that  the  services  of  each 
emigrant  should  be  rated  as  a  capital  of  ten  pounds, 
and  should  belong  to  the  company.  No  division  of 
profits  was  to  be  made  for  seven  years. 

The  Pilgrims  gladly  entered  into  this  engagement 
which  bound  them  for  a  seven  years'  term  in  material 
things,  since  it  left  them  free  in  regard  to  civic  rights 
and  religious  liberty.    This  first  colony  of  New  Eng- 


22  THE  NEW  AMERICA 


land,  consisting  of  forty-one  men  with  their  families, 
with  no  warrant  from  the  sovereign  of  England  or  of 
any  other  nation,  with  no  available  charter  from  any 
corporate  body,  after  a  stormy  voyage  of  more  than 
sixty  days,  landed  at  Plymouth,  December  21,  1620. 

The  new  commonwealth,  when  it  landed  from  the 
sea,  had  an  organized  church  and  a  system  of  civil  gov- 
ernment. Hardships  were  many  through  the  long 
New  England  winter,  but  when  the  Mayflower 
sailed  for  England  in  the  following  April  not  one  of 
the  immigrants  sailed  with  her.  The  "  Colony  of  Con- 
science "  had  come  to  stay  and  to  work  out  a  destiny 
for  itself  and  for  the  New  America  which  was  in  the 
making.    Retreat  was  no  part  of  its  programme. 

Without  a  charter,  they  established  self-government 
whose  stability  depended  on  their  own  character  and 
aims.  The  twelve  years  which  they  had  spept  as  im- 
migrants in  Holland  had  given  them  an  acquaintance 
with  the  spirit  and  forms  of  republican  government, 
a  conception  of  education,  of  religion  and  of  life,  which 
had  not  been  offered  them  in  monarchical  England  of 
their  time. 

PURITANS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY 

In  1628  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Company  sent  over 
from  England  a  number  of  Puritan  colonists,  includ- 
ing John  Endicott  as  governor,  with  his  wife  and 
family.  They  united  with  other  Puritan  settlers  in 
the  region  of  Boston  harbor  and  founded  the  first 
town  of  their  colony  at  Salem,  which  had  been  chosen 
by  the  Company  in  England  as  "  a  convenient  place 


BEGINNINGS 


23 


of  refuge  for  the  exiles  of  religion."  The  Company 
had  commanded,  "  If  any  of  the  salvages  pretend  right 
of  inheritance  to  all  or  any  part  of  the  lands  granted 
in  our  patent,  to  endeavor  to  purchase  their  title,  that 
we  may  avoid  the  least  scruple  of  intrusion,"  and 
further,  to  "  particularly  publish  that  no  wrong  or 
injury  be  offered  to  the  natives."  Thus  did  Puritans  in 
England  co-operate  with  Puritans  in  New  England  in 
laying  foundations  for  the  New  America. 

The  new  colony,  having  survived  its  initial  hard- 
ships and  privations,  was  subjected  to  the  severer  test 
of  popularity.  In  their  prosperity,  intent  on  their  mis- 
sion as  "  a  religious  plantation  and  not  a  plantation 
for  trade,"  they  sharpened  the  severity  of  their  laws 
against  infidelity  and  "  sectarianism." 

CONNECTICUT 

The  beginnings  of  Connecticut  were  made  by  a  group 
of  people  under  the  leadership  of  their  pastor — Thomas 
Hooker — who  emigrated  from  Massachusetts  and,  in 
1639,  adopted  a  constitution  guaranteeing  the  liberties 
of  the  people  and  creating  an  independent  republic. 

Mr.  A.  Maurice  Low,  in  "  The  American  People," 
characterizes  this  as  "  the  only  written  constitution  then 
in  existence  that  organized  a  form  of  civil  govern- 
ment," and  as  "  the  prototype  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States." 

The  constructive  work  of  the  ministers  of  colonial 
days  in  shaping  civic  affairs  is  worthy  of  note.  Three 
colonies,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut  and  New  Haven, 
owed  their  origin  to  three  ministers, — Roger  Williams, 


24 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


Thomas  Hooker  and  John  Davenport.  They,  with  the 
Pilgrim  colony  of  Plymouth,  stood  for  larger  liberty, 
both  civic  and  religious,  than  could  be  found  in  the 
other  colonies  at  the  time  of  their  organization. 

EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS 

The  fact  that  it  was  their  independent  thinking  which 
had  led  them  to  leave  their  native  land  was  allied 
with  the  fact  that  education  had  a  prominent  place  in 
the  development  of  the  New  England  colonies.  As 
early  as  1624,  Governor  Bradford,  noting  the  fact 
that  families  were  teaching  their  own  children  as  yet 
because  of  the  lack  of  a  common  school,  added  that  "  it 
is  not  because  the  need  of  education  is  not  realized." 

Early  provision  was  made  for  public  schools  in  all 
the  towns  of  Massachusetts.  In  1647  ^  passed 
providing  that  every  township  of  fifty  householders 
should  have  a  public  school  for  its  children.  By  1665 
every  town  had  a  common  school  and  every  town  con- 
taining more  than  one  hundred  inhabitants  had  a  gram- 
mar school.  As  early  as  1636  the  colonial  legislature 
founded  in  New  Town  (Cambridge)  the  college  which 
was  named  Harvard  two  years  later. 

In  Connecticut  every  town  that  did  not  keep  a  school 
for  at  least  three  months  in  the  year  was  liable  to  be 
fined. 

Perhaps  no  other  characteristic  of  the  Virginia 
colony  indicates  so  marked  a  contrast  to  the  ideals  of 
the  New  Englanders  as  the  attitude  toward  popular 
education.  As  late  as  1671,  Sir  William  Berkeley,  who 
had  been  made  governor  in  1641,  thanked  God  that 


BEGINNINGS 


25 


"  there  are  no  free  schools  nor  printing  and  I  hope  we 
shall  not  have  them  this  hundred  years;  for  learning  has 
brought  disobedience,  and  heresy  and  sects  into  the 
world,  and  printing  has  divulged  them,  and  libels 
against  the  best  government.   God  keep  us  from  both." 

Would  it  be  possible  from  types  of  thinking  so 
opposite  to  evolve  a  common  ideal  strong  enough  to 
fuse  all  elements  in  the  creation  of  a  national  life? 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY 

Among  those  who  emigrated  from  England  in  163 1 
to  escape  the  persecutions  of  Archbishop  Laud,  was 
Roger  Williams,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge,  whose 
advanced  views  concerning  freedom  of  conscience  and 
whose  advocacy  of  the  separation  of  church  and  state, 
had  made  him  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  authori- 
ties. 

In  Massachusetts,  finding  that  the  magistrate  re- 
quired the  presence  of  every  man  at  the  public  worship 
of  the  church,  he  insisted  that  "  no  one  should  be 
bound  to  worship  or  to  maintain  worship  against  his 
own  consent,"  and  declared  that  "  the  doctrine  of  per- 
secution for  cause  of  conscience  is  most  lamentably  con- 
trary to  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ."  He  became 
assistant  minister  at  Salem  but  soon  found  himself  too 
far  from  harmony  with  the  ruling  powers  to  be  useful 
there.  Later  he  was  assistant  minister  in  the  Pilgrim 
church  of  Plymouth.  In  1633  became  pastor  of  the 
Salem  church,  but  was  banished  by  order  of  the  General 
Court  in  1635  because  of  his  persistence  in  teaching 
that  "  the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate  extends  only  to 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


the  bodies,  goods  and  the  outward  estates  of  men,  and 
not  to  the  souls  and  consciences." 

In  mid-winter  he  went  to  the  shores  of  Narragansett 
Bay,  where  he  purchased  land  of  the  Indian  chiefs, 
and  founded  the  colony  of  Rhode  Island,  with  its  basis 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  In  regular  session  of  its 
Assembly  in  May,  1664,  the  colony  enacted  that  "  No 
person  shall  at  any  time  hereafter  be  any  ways  called 
in  question  for  any  difference  of  opinion  in  matters  of 
religion." 

NEW  YORK 

New  York,  having  originated  as  a  trading-post  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  was 
the  abode  of  merchants  from  the  first,  and  a  meeting- 
place  for  representatives  of  many  nationalities  and 
many  creeds.  We  are  told  that  "  twenty  years  after 
Hudson  had  discovered  Manhattan,  fourteen  languages 
were  spoken  in  its  streets." 

In  March,  1627,  the  colony  on  Manhattan  sent  a 
letter  to  the  Plymouth  Colony,  claiming  "  mutual  good- 
will and  service,"  reminding  the  Plymouth  colonists  of 
*'  the  nearness  of  our  native  countries,  the  friendship 
of  our  forefathers,  and  the  new  covenant  between  the 
States  General  and  England  against  the  Spaniards." 
Governor  Bradford  replied,  "  Our  children  after  us 
never  shall  forget  the  good  and  courteous  entreaty 
which  we  found  in  your  country,  and  shall  desire  your 
prosperity  forever." 

The  government  of  New  Netherland  had  published 
the  desire  that  the  population  should  include  "  farm- 
ers and  laborers,  foreigners  and  exiles,  men  inured  to 


BEGINNINGS  2T 

toil  and  penury."  Free  passage  from  the  Old  World 
was  offered  to  mechanics. 

At  first  citizenship  was  a  commercial  privilege,  not 
a  political  enfranchisement.  Puritans  of  Connecticut 
established  whole  towns,  planting  their  New  England 
liberties  in  their  congregational  way,  in  the  territory 
claimed  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  and  met 
no  protest  from  the  agents  of  the  liberal-policied  Com- 
pany. Dutch  citizens,  watching  the  experiment,  began 
to  grow  restless,  then  to  ask  for  the  larger  liberties  of 
citizenship. 

Out  of  the  general  unrest  came  the  meeting  of  an 
assembly  in  1653,  composed  of  two  deputies  from 
each  village  in  New  Netherland,  and  claiming  the 
right  of  deliberating  on  the  civil  condition  of  the 
country.  The  petition  of  the  assembly,  drafted  by 
George  Baxter,  recited  that,  "  We  who  have  come 
together  from  a  various  lineage,  we  who  have,  at  our 
own  expense,  exchanged  our  native  lands  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  United  Provinces,  we  who  have  trans- 
formed the  wilderness  into  fruitful  farms, — demand 
that  no  new  laws  shall  be  enacted  but  with  consent  of 
the  people;  that  none  shall  be  appointed  to  office  but 
with  the  approbation  of  the  people;  that  obscure  and 
obsolete  laws  shall  never  be  revived." 

"  Will  you  set  your  names  to  the  visionary  notions  of 
an  Englishman?"  demanded  Governor  Stuyvesant. 
"  Is  there  no  one  of  the  Netherlands  nation  able  to 
draft  your  petition?  And  your  prayer  is  so  extrava- 
gant! You  might  as  well  claim  to  send  delegates  to 
the  assembly  of  their  High  Mightinesses  themselves ! 
The  old  laws  remain  in  force.    Directors  will  never 


28 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


make  themselves  responsible  to  subjects."  He  com- 
manded the  members  of  the  assembly  to  separate,  "  on 
pains  of  arbitrary  punishment,"  giving  them  as  his 
ultimatum,  "  We  derive  our  authority  from  God  and 
the  West  India  Company,  not  from  the  pleasure  of  a 
few  ignorant  subjects." 

The  West  India  Company,  being  appealed  to,  de- 
clared the  resistance  of  the  colonists  to  arbitrary  taxa- 
tion to  be  "  contrary  to  the  maxims  of  every  enlight- 
ened government."  The  colonists  were  exhorted  to 
"  no  longer  indulge  the  visionary  dream  that  taxes 
can  be  imposed  only  with  their  consent." 

Lacking  freedom  as  men,  the  colonists  lacked  public 
spirit.  It  was  difficult  to  secure  men  to  go  to  the  relief 
of  neighboring  villages  when  attacked  by  the  Indians. 
As  the  Company  claimed  absolute  sovereignty,  the 
people  claimed  from  the  Company  absolute  protection. 
The  Company,  valuing  the  colony  as  property,  con- 
sidered how  far  expenditure  might  be  justified  on 
business  principles. 

When  rumor  came  of  an  intended  invasion  from 
England  in  1664,  a  new  assembly  was  held,  larger  than 
before.  When  the  English  fleet  appeared  of?  the  coast 
of  Manhattan,  the  people  surrendered,  receiving  guar- 
antees of  security  to  the  customs,  the  religion,  the 
municipal  institutions,  and  the  possessions  of  the 
Dutch.  Manhattan  became  New  York,  with  power 
vested  in  the  people  to  choose  their  own  magistrates, 
to  elect  their  own  deputies  and  to  have  a  free  choice  in 
all  public  affairs. 


BEGINNINGS 


29 


DELAWARE 

Within  the  limits  of  the  present  state  of  Delaware 
settlement  was  made  by  the  Dutch  as  early  as  1631. 
Swedes  and  Finns  came  in  1638.  They  erected  "  Chris- 
tiana Fort,  and  named  the  territory  New  Sweden." 
In  1664,  soon  after  the  English  conquest  of  Manhattan, 
the  colonists  on  the  Delaware  capitulated,  allowing 
England  to  complete  her  possession  of  the  Atlantic 
coast  territory  of  the  thirteen  original  states. 

PROBLEMS  OF  DISTRIBUTION 

Immigration  problems  of  the  colonial  period  were 
complicated  not  only  by  the  relations  of  the  colonists 
with  the  proprietors  but  by  their  relations  with  each 
other.  All  boundaries  were  in  dispute,  owing  to 
imperfect  knowledge  of  the  geography  of  the  coun- 
try. 

In  1643,  in  order  to  provide  for  their  common  secu- 
rity and  welfare,  the  colonies  of  Massachusetts,  Ply- 
mouth, Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  united  to  form 
the  United  Colonies  of  New  England,  each  retaining 
the  management  of  its  own  affairs  while  all  matters 
relating  to  the  general  good  were  referred  to  commis- 
sioners,— two  from  each  colony.  From  1652  to  1820 
the  history  of  Maine  is  merged  in  that  of  Massachu- 
setts. The  relations  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp- 
shire varied  until  1741,  when  the  final  separation  was 
made.  The  New  England  colonies  claimed  western 
boundaries  which  overlapped  the  territory  claimed  by 
the  Dutch  West  India  Company  and  its  colony  of  New 


30 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


Netherland.  The  territory  which  now  is  Vermont 
was  claimed  not  only  by  New  England  but  by  New 
Netherland  and  by  France.  Charter  governments, 
proprietary  governments,  royal  governments,  became 
entangled  with  each  other,  to  the  greater  confusion  of 
the  immigration  problems  of  all. 

Governor  Stuyvesant,  of  New  Netherland,  finding 
what  he  considered  encroachments  being  made  on 
every  side,  went  to  Boston  and  entered  complaint  to 
the  convention  of  the  United  Colonies  of  New  England. 
His  statement  of  unjust  encroachments  met  a  neutral 
attitude  on  the  part  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  demand 
for  delay  by  Connecticut.  Baffled  in  Boston,  the  re- 
monstrance was  carried  by  an  embassy  to  Hartford. 
When  Governor  Stuyvesant  asserted  his  right  to  terri- 
tory purchased  from  the  natives,  the  commissioners 
replied  that  Connecticut,  by  its  charter,  extended  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  "  Where,  then,  is  New 
Netherland  ?  "  asked  the  Dutch  protesters.  "  We  do 
not  know,"  replied  the  agents  of  Connecticut. 

PENNSYLVANIA  NEW  JERSEY 

When  William  Penn  had  received  from  the  Eng- 
lish government  a  charter  for  the  land  which  came  to 
be  known  as  Pennsylvania,  he  issued  to  the  settlers 
who  had  immigrated  to  that  territory  a  proclamation 
containing  these  words,  "  You  shall  be  governed  by 
laws  of  your  own  making,  and  live  a  free,  and  if  you 
will,  a  sober  and  industrious  people.  I  beseech  God  to 
direct  you  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  and  therein 


BEGINNINGS 


31 


prosper  you  and  your  children  after  you.  I  am  your 
true  friend,  Wm.  Penn." 

He  addressed  a  letter  to  the  natives  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania forests,  declaring  himself  and  them  "  respon- 
sible to  one  and  the  same  God,  having  the  same  law 
written  in  our  hearts,  and  alike  bound  to  love  and  help 
and  do  good  to  one  another." 

The  Quaker  proprietors  in  England  wrote  to  the  few 
immigrants  in  New  Jersey,  "  We  lay  a  foundation  for 
after  ages  to  understand  their  liberty  as  Christians  and 
as  men,  that  they  may  not  be  brought  into  bondage  but 
by  their  own  consent;  for  we  put  the  power  in  the 
people." 

MARYLAND 

The  experience  of  Lord  Baltimore  illustrates  the 
different  characteristics  of  adjacent  colonies  in  the 
New  America.  He  visited  Virginia  in  1629,  bringing 
his  family  with  him,  but  was  refused  as  a  settler  on  the 
ground  of  being  a  "  papist."  Greatly  to  the  dissatis- 
faction of  the  colonists  he  secured  from  the  King  of 
England  a  grant  of  the  territory  of  Maryland,  which 
they  had  considered  their  own  province,  and  widely 
advertised  toleration  of  all  forms  of  religion  in  the 
new  colony,  although  Quakers  were  fined  and  im- 
prisoned on  refusal  to  take  an  oath,  or  to  perform 
military  service. 

THE  CAROLINAS 

The  permanent  settlement  of  Carolina  was  closely 
connected  with  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.  to  the 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


throne  of  England.  During  the  Enghsh  Revolution 
the  sympathies  of  the  majority  of  the  colonists  of  Vir- 
ginia had  been  with  the  royalist  party  as  strongly  as 
those  of  the  majority  in  New  England  had  been  with 
Cromwell.  On  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy  the 
aristocratic  party  in  Virginia  led  in  organizing  a  royal- 
ist assembly,  allying  it  with  the  English  crown,  and 
thus  sweeping  away  the  progress  that  had  been  made 
in  self-government. 

Those  members  of  the  colony  who  were  out  of  sym- 
pathy with  this  retracing  of  the  footsteps  of  the  past, 
found  the  freedom  from  conventions,  both  political  and 
religious,  in  the  forests  south  of  Virginia  congenial 
to  them,  and  Carolina  gained  an  element  of  the  popu- 
lation which  Virginia  lost. 

In  1633  Governor  Berkeley,  of  Virginia,  was  com- 
missioned to  institute  a  government  over  the  people  of 
the  Carolina  region.  Without  disputing  their  posses- 
sion of  lands  which  they  had  acquired  in  part  from 
the  Indians,  and  without  discussing  political  principles 
with  them,  he  appointed  William  Drummond,  an  im- 
migrant from  Scotland,  as  their  governor. 

Men  from  the  colony  of  English  wealth,  nobility 
and  ecclesiasticism,  were  met  there  by  men  from  New 
England,  the  colony  of  democracy  and  non-conformity, 
who  claimed  the  privileges  of  self-government  as  a 
natural  right.  The  overflow  from  these  two  colonies, 
founded  on  opposite  principles,  combined  to  secure 
greater  liberty  than  had  been  granted  to  either  of  the 
parent  colonies. 

In  1669  a  few  laws  were  framed  to  fit  the  local 
needs  and,  simple  as  they  were,  they  remained  in  force 


BEGINNINGS 


33 


half  a  century.  New  settlers  were  exempted  from 
taxation  for  a  year.  Every  one  joining  the  colony 
received  a  bounty  in  land,  but  a  perfect  title  was  given 
only  after  a  residence  of  two  years.  When  a  constitu- 
tion was  forwarded  by  "  the  proprietors  in  England," 
in  1671,  it  was  promptly  rejected  by  the  people,  who, 
intent  on  solving  their  own  problems,  felt  no  need  of 
outside  help. 

In  1663  the  territory  of  South  Carolina  was  granted 
by  Charles  II.  to  eight  "  Lords  Proprietors,"  with 
authority  to  legislate  "  by  and  with  the  advice,  assent 
and  approbation  of  the  freemen  "  and  "  to  grant  re- 
ligious freedom." 

The  proprietors  furnished  free  transportation  for 
immigrants,  and  established  their  own  agent  in  the 
colony  to  manage  all  commercial  transactions.  Soon 
after  landing,  the  colonists  took  affairs  mto  their  own 
hands,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  their  neighbors 
on  the  north,  and  instituted  representative  government 
for  themselves,  electing  five  representatives  to  act  with 
the  five  chosen  by  the  proprietors. 

Religious  liberty  attracted  dissenters  from  many 
parts  of  Europe  to  South  Carolina.  From  England 
came,  also,  "  impoverished  members  of  the  Church  of 
England."  Scotchmen  and  Scotch-Irish  came,  at- 
tracted by  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  by  the  prospect  of 
peace  denied  them  in  their  native  land  during  the 
tyranny  of  Lauderdale. 

King  Charles  II.  provided  at  his  own  expense  two 
small  vessels  to  bring  to  Carolina  "  a  few  foreign 
Protestants,  who  might  there  domesticate  the  produc- 
tions of  the  south  of  Europe." 


S4! 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


Of  the  500,000  Huguenots  who  escaped  from  France 
after  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  many 
reached  America  and  a  large  proportion  of  those  who 
came  found  homes  in  South  CaroHna. 

In  this  freedom-loving  colony  there  came  a  time  of 
confusion  between  the  will  of  the  "  Lords  Proprietors  " 
and  the  people  who  refused  to  recognize  their  authority. 
Finally,  in  1690,  a  meeting  of  representatives  of  the 
colony  disfranchised  the  governor,  James  Colleton,  and 
banished  him  from  the  province.  So  South  Carolina 
felt  and  fought  her  way  to  independence  fifty  years 
after  Connecticut  had  become  an  independent  common- 
wealth. 

GEORGIA 

Georgia,  youngest  of  the  colonies,  was  founded  in 
1732  by  James  Oglethorpe,  as  a  place  in  which  the 
unfortunate,  especially  those  who  had  been  imprisoned 
in  England  for  debt,  might  gain  a  new  start  in  life. 
By  its  charter  the  colony  was  placed  for  twenty-one 
years  under  the  guardianship  of  a  corporation.  "  in 
trust  for  the  poor."  The  institution  of  courts  and  all 
executive  and  legislative  power  were  given  exclusively 
to  the  trustees  for  this  length  of  time.  Parliament 
made  a  grant  of  £10,000  to  be  used  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  colony.  Through  private  subscriptions 
botanists  were  sent  to  South  America  and  the  West 
Indies  to  find  and  bring  to  Georgia  the  plants  best 
adapted  to  its  soil. 

No  colony  ever  was  started  with  better  intentions  or 
treated  with  greater  generosity, — except  in  the  matter 
of  placing  on  the  colonists  themselves  responsibility  for 


BEGINNINGS 


35 


their  own  welfare.  Those  who  accepted  the  opportuni- 
ties which  it  offered  included  not  only  English,  but 
Swiss,  German,  Scotch  and  Hebrew  immigrants. 

Though  generously  aided,  the  colony  did  not  prosper 
under  the  rule  of  the  incorporators,  who  surrendered 
their  charter  before  the  end  of  the  specified  twenty- 
one  years.  But  in  1768,  after  fourteen  years  of  find- 
ing and  making  its  own  way  to  prosperity,  we  find 
Georgia  reported  as  "  the  most  flourishing  colony  op. 
the  continent." 

THE  REVOLUTIONARY  IDEAL 

What  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  in  1654 
had  characterized  as  "  the  visionary  dream  that  taxes 
can  be  imposed  only  with  the  consent "  of  the  taxed, 
was  not  dispelled  by  the  exhortation  of  "  Their  High 
Mightinesses."  It  became  a  part  of  the  inspiring  ideal 
of  resolute  freemen  and  found  voice  after  more  than  a 
century  of  waiting,  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

That,  too,  was  counted  a  visionary  dream  by  many 
a  High  Mightiness  of  the  Old  World.  Were  less  than 
four  millions  of  people, — immigrants  from  the  four 
quarters  of  the  earth,  speaking  different  languages,  ad- 
hering to  differing  creeds, — capable  of  amalgamation 
for  effective  service  in  resisting  foreign  domination  ? — 
capable  of  that  more  complete  amalgamation  which  is 
essential  to  the  creation  and  maintenance  of  a  national 
life?   Let  History  reply. 

Turn  to  the  roll  of  honor, — the  names  of  those  who 
helped  to  create  the  New  America, — and  let  each  re- 
spond for  the  land  of  his  birth.   England,  Ireland,  Scot- 


36 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


land,  Wales,  Scandinavia,  Holland,  France,  Germany, 
Switzerland,  and  more; — for  almost  every  nation  of 
Europe  had  representatives  here,  even  then. 

Out  of  the  desperate  struggle  for  freedom  grew  a 
new  and  stronger  ideal  of  patriotism,  of  love  for  the 
country  to  which,  voluntarily  and  unreservedly,  they 
had  given  their  lives,  their  fortunes  and  their  sacred 
honor. 

Without  a  common  vision,  a  common  ideal,  the 
nation  could  not  have  been  born.  Should  the  vision 
fade, — should  the  ideal  fail, — the  nation  could  not 
survive. 


II 

DEVELOPMENT 


In  her  form  and  features  still 

The  unblenching  Puritan  will, 

Cavalier  honor,  Huguenot  grace, 

The  Quaker  truth  and  sweetness, 
And  the  strength  of  the  danger-girdled  race 
Of  Holland,  blend  in  a  proud  completeness. 
From  the  homes  of  all,  where  her  being  began. 

She  took  what  she  gave  to  Man ; 

Justice,  that  knew  no  station, 
Belief,  as  soul  decreed, 

Free  air  for  aspiration. 
Free  force  for  independent  deed ! 

She  takes,  but  to  give  again. 

As  the  sea  returns  the  rivers  in  rain ; 

And  gathers  the  chosen  of  her  seed 

From  the  hunted  of  every  crown  and  creed. 

Fused  in  her  candid  light. 
To  one  strong  race  all  races  here  unite ; 
Tongues  melt  in  hers,  hereditary  foemen 

Forget  their  sword  and  slogan,  kith  and  clan; 
'Twas  glory,  once,  to  be  a  Roman ; 
She  makes  it  glory,  now,  to  be  a  man ! 

— Bayard  Tavlok. 


II 


DEVELOPMENT 


IHE  infant  nation,  numbering  less  than  four 


millions,  faced  its  problems  of  growth  and 


development  in  the  same  resolute  spirit  that 
had  characterized  its  struggle  for  freedom. 

After  the  achievement  of  independence  the  intel- 
lectual power  of  the  New  America  began  to  manifest 
itself  in  connection  with  a  mastery  of  forces  which 
brought  far-reaching  results  in  the  national  life. 

The  invention  of  the  cotton-gin  in  1793  by  Eli 
Whitney,  has  been  said  by  Edwin  W.  Morse,  in 
"  Causes  and  Efifects  in  American  History,"  to  have 
had  "  a  greater  effect  in  later  years  upon  political,  in- 
dustrial and  social  conditions  in  the  South  than  most 
of  the  measures  passed  by  the  Federal  Congresses." 

In  1790  Fitch's  invention  of  the  steamboat,  and, 
in  1807,  Fulton's  invention  of  the  paddle-wheel  boat, 
promoted  the  navigation  of  the  country's  waterways. 


In  1 791  Captain  Robert  Gray,  commanding  the 
Columbia  of  Boston,  a  small  ship  of  only  a  little  more 
than  two  hundred  tons,  on  a  voyage  around  the  world, 
entered  the  Columbia  River  and  sailed  up  its  stream 


EXPLORATIONS 


39 


40 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


for  twenty-five  miles.  He  carried  the  American  flag 
around  the  world,  sold  furs  from  the  northwest  coast 
in  China  and  brought  back  to  Boston  a  cargo  of  tea. 
His  discovery  of  the  great  northwest  river  which  he 
named  Columbia,  after  his  ship,  was  the  basis  of  the 
claim  established  by  the  United  States  to  the  Oregon 
country. 

In  1804  the  Lewis  and  Clark  exploring  expedition, 
consisting  of  forty-five  men  in  three  boats,  starting 
from  the  village  of  Saint  Louis,  went  up  the  Missouri, 
over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Co- 
lumbia River.  Their  return  in  1806,  their  reports  and 
the  results  of  their  expedition  are  matters  of  American 
history. 

In  1805  the  exploration  of  Captain  Pike  to  the  head- 
waters of  the  Mississippi,  and,  later,  through  the  coun- 
try of  the  southwest,  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
people  some  idea  of  the  value  of  the  great  almost 
unknown  region  included  under  the  name  of  "  Louisi- 
ana," which  had  been  purchased  from  the  French  in 
1800.  Besides  more  than  doubling  the  previous  area 
of  the  United  States,  it  was  found  to  possess  vast 
agricultural  and  mineral  wealth. 

NEW  ATTRACTIONS  FOR  IMMIGRATION 

The  acquisition  of  Florida  from  Spain  in  1821,  the 
annexation  of  Texas  in  1845,  accession  of 

California  in  1850  added  enormously  to  the  domain  of 
the  nation.  The  opening  of  these  vast  areas  for  occu- 
pation attracted  new  immigration  to  America  from  the 


DEVELOPMENT 


41 


crowded  countries  of  Europe,  greatly  increasing  the 
population  of  the  United  States. 

Agriculture  was  not  the  only  lure  to  the  New 
America,  although  the  opportunity  to  secure  "  home- 
steads "  at  low  prices  in  addition  to  the  cost  of  actually 
settling  and  cultivating  the  lands,  brought  some  of  our 
most  desirable  citizens  from  across  the  sea.  The  fact 
that  a  certain  portion  of  the  public  land  was  uniformly 
appropriated  for  public  schools  gave  assurance  of  edu- 
cation as  well  as  of  material  support  for  family  life. 

The  construction  of  roads  and  canals,  the  building 
of  bridges,  the  opening  of  new  lines  of  communication 
between  different  parts  of  the  country  in  the  early  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  brought  a  steadily  increasing 
immigration  to  meet  the  new  opportunities  for  the 
investment  of  industry  as  well  as  of  money. 

The  introduction  of  railroads  in  1830  brought  a  new 
line  of  development  and  expansion,  revolutionizing 
previous  methods  of  transportation  and  opening  almost 
incredible  vistas  of  future  prosperity.  The  manufac- 
ture of  gas  and  its  use  in  illumination,  the  invention  of 
cylinder  printing-presses,  of  the  telegraph,  of  the 
sewing-machine,  of  farming  machinery,  indicate  the 
fact  that  intellectual  development  was  keeping  pace 
with  and  inevitably  promoting  material  prosperity, 
while  steadily  increasing  the  demand  for  physical  labor. 

It  was  the  great  shipbuilding  era  of  the  United 
States.  "  The  building  of  the  ship  "  not  only  stimu- 
lated the  poetic  fancy  of  our  Longfellow,  but  it  made 
a  reputation  for  our  workmanship  and  our  American 
timber  unequaled  in  the  world.  Not  only  were  our 
ships  built  at  less  cost  than  those  of  England,  but  they 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


were  swifter  and  lasted  twice  as  long.  One  vessel  is 
reputed  to  have  made  one  hundred  and  sixteen  round 
trips  between  New  York  and  Liverpool  in  twenty-nine 
years,  and  to  have  brought  thirty  thousand  immigrants. 

It  is  estimated  that  in  the  first  year  after  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  finding  of  gold  in  California,  in 
1848,  one  hundred  thousand  men  reached  that  coast  in 
search  of  the  precious  metal.  Adventurers  whose  chief 
incentive  in  coming  to  the  New  America  had  been  the 
hope  of  finding  gold  or  its  equivalent  hastened  to 
join  the  "  forty-niners,"  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Planters  of  the  South  pushed  into  the  middle  West 
of  their  latitudes  for  larger  areas  of  productive  land. 
Puritans  of  New  England,  in  increasing  numbers, 
pressed  into  New  York,  Ohio,  and  on  westward, 
carrying  with  them  their  system  of  free  schools  and 
self-governing  churches.  Mr.  Bancroft  tells  us  that 
the  early  Puritans  of  New  England  "  were  the  parents 
of  one-third  of  the  whole  white  population  of  the 
United  States  as  it  was  in  1834." 

SOURCES  AND  CHARACTER  OF  IMMIGRATION 

In  the  further  development  of  the  New  America, 
as  in  its  beginnings,  the  "  immigration  problem  "  was 
one  of  serious  importance. 

The  national  government  began  early  to  scan  the 
numbers,  the  source,  the  character,  the  destination  and 
the  occupation  of  those  who  came.  From  1820,  on- 
ward, we  find  regular  annual  reports  of  immigration 
among  the  Federal  records. 

Previous  to  1883  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  total 


Finnish  Family 


DEVELOPMENT 


43 


immigration  was  furnished  by  Northern  and  Western 
Europe,  including  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  Wales, 
Belgium,  Denmark,  France,  Germany,  the  Nether- 
lands, Norway,  Sweden  and  Switzerland.  The  great 
majority  came  from  Germany  and  Scandinavia.  While 
it  is  true  that  "they  were  prevailingly  Teutonic  in 
blood  and  Protestant  in  religion,"  these  general  char- 
acteristics had  many  exceptions.  Their  motives  for 
coming  were  as  diverse  as  those  for  the  coming  of 
immigrants  from  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe  to-day. 

Some  study  of  conditions  in  the  countries  from 
which  our  immigrants  come  is  necessary  to  a  just 
understanding  of  various  phases  of  the  problems  in- 
volved in  their  immigration.  For  instance,  in  1845- 
1855,  the  failure  of  the  potato  crop  in  Ireland  led  to 
the  coming  of  a  million  and  a  quarter  of  Irish  immi- 
grants, many  of  whom  were  neither  Teutonic  nor 
Protestant.  Again,  in  1882,  their  immigration  was 
greatly  increased  in  consequence  of  another  famine. 

Those  who  came  from  the  South  of  Ireland  were 
of  a  different  race  from  the  "  Scotch-Irish "  of  the 
North,  of  whom  Professor  Commons,  in  "  Races  and 
Immigrants  in  America,"  says  that  "  they  are  very 
little  Scotch  and  much  less  Irish,"  but  "  the  most  com- 
posite of  all  the  people  of  the  British  Isles.  .  .  . 
They  are  a  mixed  race  through  whose  veins  run  the 
Celtic  blood  of  the  primitive  Scot  and  Pict,  the  primi- 
tive Briton,  the  primitive  Irish,  but  with  a  larger 
admixture  of  the  later  Norwegian,  Dane,  Saxon  and 
Angle." 

They  were  immigrants  from  Scotland  to  Ulster  in 
the  North  of  Ireland  at  the  time  of  the  "  great  settle- 


44 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


ment,"  in  1610.  In  1718,  three  hundred  and  nineteen 
men  of  them  empowered  their  agent  to  negotiate  terms 
with  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  for  their  settle- 
ment in  that  colony.  Ninety-six  per  cent  of  the 
whole  number  wrote  out  their  names  in  full.  It  has 
been  said  that  at  that  time  in  no  other  part  of  the 
British  dominions  could  such  a  proportion  of  men, 
miscellaneously  selected,  have  written  their  names. 

Among  the  Scotch-Irish  was  a  goodly  number  of 
French  Huguenots  and  of  Hollanders  who  had  come 
over  to  England  with  King  William  from  their  native 
countries.  This  stream  of  immigration  turned  partly 
eastward  and  partly  southward.  At  one  time  it  formed 
almost  the  entire  population  of  western  Virginia  and 
of  western  North  Carolina.  In  later  days  the  Scotch- 
Irish  passed  into  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  Their  de- 
scendants in  that  region  still  are  to  be  found  among 
the  "  mountaineers,"  who  furnish  to-day  so  large  a 
proportion  of  the  workers  in  Southern  cotton-mills. 

Early  immigration  from  Germany  was  caused  by 
that  intolerance  both  in  church  and  state  which  led 
to  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Protestantism,  which  began 
in  resisting  abuses  in  the  church,  was  continued  logic- 
ally in  resisting  abuses  of  civic  power.  In  17 10,  after 
the  French  devastation  of  the  Palatinate,  about  13,000 
Germans  emigrated  to  England,  and  of  this  number 
about  4,000  came  in  a  single  year  to  America. 

ASSISTED  IMMIGRATION 

The  economic  incentive  was  not  lacking  as  a  stimu- 
lant to  this  immigration.   Professor  Commons  tells  us 


DEVELOPMENT 


46 


that  "  William  Penn  and  his  lessees,  John  Law,  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company  and  many  of  the  grantees 
of  lands  in  the  colonies,  sent  their  agents  through 
Western  Europe  and  the  British  Isles  with  glowing 
advertisements,  advanced  transportation  and  contracts 
for  indentured  service  by  way  of  reimbursement." 
And  again,  "  Not  only  William  Penn  himself,  but 
other  landowners  in  Pennsylvania  and  also  shipowners 
advertised  the  country  in  Germany,  and  thousands  of 
the  poorer  sort  of  Germans  were  induced  to  indenture 
themselves  to  the  settlers  to  whom  they  were  auctioned 
off  by  the  ship  captains  in  return  for  transportation. 
Probably  one-half  of  all  the  immigrants  of  the  colonial 
period  came  under  this  system  of  postpaid  transporta- 
tion." 

ILLITERACY 

The  settlement  and  development  of  the  New  America 
would  have  been  greatly  retarded  had  literacy  been  a 
test  for  the  admission  of  immigrants  during  the  early 
periods  of  its  history.  William  Heard  Kilpatrick,  in 
"  The  Dutch  Schools  of  New  Netherland  and  Colonial 
New  York,"  tells  us  that  "  at  Albany,  of  360  men's 
names  examined,  covering  the  years  from  1654  to  1675, 
21  per  cent  made  their  marks.  Of  274  men's  signa- 
tures at  Flatbush,  covering  a  longer  period,  19  per 
cent  made  their  marks.  Corresponding  figures  for 
other  American  colonies  are  available  in  only  a  few 
instances.  Of  the  German  male  immigrants  above 
16  years  of  age  who  came  to  Pennsylvania  in  the  first 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  11,823  names  have  been 


46 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


counted,  with  the  result  of  26  per  cent  who  made  their 
marks. 

"  Bruce  found,  by  a  most  painstaking  count  of  the 
seventeenth-century  Virginians,  that  of  2,165  male 
adults  who  signed  jury  lists,  46  per  cent  made  their 
marks,  and  of  12,445  male  adults  who  signed  deeds 
and  depositions,  40  per  cent  made  their  marks.  .  .  . 
Putting  all  the  Dutch  women  together,  we  get,  for  the 
figures  available,  154,  a  percentage  of  illiteracy  of  60 
per  cent.  Bruce  found  in  Virginia,  out  of  3,066 
women  signing  deeds  and  depositions,  an  illiteracy  of 
75  per  cent." 

In  Suffolk  County,  Massachusetts,  including  Boston, 
two  volumes  of  published  deeds  were  examined  for 
the  years  1653-1656  and  1681-1697,  in  which  it  was 
found  that  in  each  period  11  per  cent  of  the  men  made 
their  marks.  Of  the  women,  58  per  cent  in  the  first 
period  and  38  per  cent  in  the  second  period  made  their 
marks. 

GERMAN  IMMIGRATION 

To-day  no  element  in  our  immigration  is  more  highly 
esteemed  than  the  German.  But  Mr.  Hourwich,  in 
"  Immigration  and  Labor,"  quotes  from  a  letter  of 
Benjamin  Franklin,  dated  Philadelphia,  May  9,  1753, 
as  follows : 

"  Those  who  come  hither  are  generally  the  most  stupid 
of  their  own  nation,  and  as  ignorance  is  often  attended 
with  great  credulity,  when  knavery  would  mislead 
it  .  .  .  it  is  almost  impossible  to  remove  any  preju- 
dice they  may  entertain.  .  .  .  Not  being  used  to 
liberty  they  know  not  how  to  make  modest  use  of  it. 


DEVELOPMENT 


47 


...  In  short,  unless  the  stream  of  importation  could 
be  turned  from  this  to  other  colonies,  as  you  very 
judiciously  propose,  they  will  soon  outnumber  us,  that 
all  the  advantages  we  will  have  will,  in  my  opinion,  be 
not  able  to  preserve  our  language,  and  even  our  gov- 
ernment will  become  precarious." 

Considering  the  honor  universally  accorded  our  citi- 
zens of  German  origin  to-day,  this  record  of  the  appre- 
hension of  an  earlier  time  is  reassuring  in  regard  to  the 
possibilities  of  other  nationalities  who  are  not  yet  as 
well  known  among  us.  At  the  present  time,  solicitude 
in  regard  to  German  immigrants  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
their  proportion  of  our  total  immigration  is  less  than  it 
was  thirty  years  ago. 

The  cause  of  this  decrease  is  to  be  found  in  the  new 
industrial  opportunities  offered  to  Germans  at  home. 
In  the  closing  years  of  the  last  century,  Germany's 
industrial  expansion  increased  her  demand  for  labor 
to  such  an  extent  that  she  became  a  country  of  immi- 
gration instead  of  emigration.  Since  that  time  the 
German  immigration  to  the  United  States  has  been 
chiefly  from  Austria-Hungary,  instead  of  from  Ger- 
many. Since  1880,  immigrants  from  Italy,  Russia, 
especially  Russian  Poland,  and  Austria-Hungary  have 
gone  in  large  numbers  to  Germany  in  response  to  the 
demands  for  labor  in  the  coal-mining  districts,  in  the 
agricultural  regions  and  in  the  great  industrial  cities. 

In  1898  Western  Germany  had  57,000  foreign- 
speaking  mine-workers — mostly  Poles.  The  increase 
in  the  production  of  pig-iron  in  Germany  during  the 
last  twenty  years  is  nearly  equal  to  that  in  the  United 
States.    This  increase  has  brought  a  corresponding 


4*8 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


increase  in  the  development  of  railways  and  of  freight 
traffic. 

Germany's  new  internal  developments  provide  a 
home  market  for  the  labor  of  her  own  people  and  com- 
pel her  to  welcome,  besides,  multitudes  from  the  same 
countries  that  provide  our  "  new  immigration," — ^Aus- 
tria-Hungary, Russia  and  Italy — with  the  difference 
that  it  is  naturally  the  stronger,  more  enterprising, 
more  courageous,  more  financially  able,  who  will  take 
the  longer  journey  and  the  greater  risk  involved  in 
crossing  the  sea  to  America,  rather  than  merely  cross- 
ing an  imaginary  line  between  their  own  country  and 
Germany. 

The  new  demand  for  labor  has  led  to  improvement 
in  labor  conditions.  In  addition  to  higher  wages  and 
reduction  in  the  number  of  hours,  insurance  against 
sickness,  old  age  and  accident  has  made  wage-earning 
in  Germany  much  more  attractive  than  it  was  at  the 
height  of  German  immigration  to  America  in  the  '8o's, 
when  political  oppression  added  to  the  discontent  of 
workingmen. 

Political  conditions  in  Germany  now  give  no  special 
impetus  to  emigration.  The  disappearance  of  cheap 
lands  in  the  United  States  and  the  development  of 
modern  intensive  methods  of  agriculture  in  Germany 
have  further  lessened  the  probability  that  the  large 
immigration  of  the  last  century  from  Germany  to  this 
country  will  be  repeated.  It  is  not  that  Germans  have 
been  "  crowded  out  "  of  America,  but  that  room  has 
been  made  for  them  at  home. 


DEVELOPMENT 


49 


SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION 

In  regard  to  emigration  from  Scandinavia,  Mr.  E. 

H.  Thornberg,  of  Stockholm,  "  an  expert  on  the  sub- 
ject, having  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  matter,"  in 
"  The  Women's  International  Quarterly  "  for  October, 
19 12,  makes  a  statement  of  changes  in  Sweden  so 
typical  of  changing  conditions  in  other  European  coun- 
tries from  which  a  large  share  of  our  "  old  immigra- 
tion "  came,  that  it  forms  a  valuable  contribution  to 
our  study  of  the  subject. 

Mr.  Thornberg  writes :  "  Since  the  middle  of  last 
century  Sweden  has  lost  through  emigration  to  differ- 
ent countries,  especially  to  North  America,  about 

I,  100,000  persons.  .  .  . 

"  As  early  as  1638  Sweden  founded  in  North 
America  a  small  colony  on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware, 
a  colony  which  more  or  less  corresponds  to  the  present 
states  of  Delaware,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania. 
Swedish  emigration,  however,  as  we  understand  it, 
only  began  about  1840,  when  the  general  stream  of 
emigrants  began  to  rush  over  from  the  Old  World  to 
America.  At  that  time  in  this  country  there  were  sev- 
eral factors  which  co-operated  to  induce  people  to  cross 
the  Atlantic. 

"  The  birth-rate  had  been  high  during  the  period 
1810-1830.  Our  young  people  were  touched  by  a 
spirit  of  adventure,  and  feeling  their  want  of  oppor- 
tunities at  home  and  realizing  the  westward  movement 
in  the  United  States,  many  made  up  their  minds  to 
leave  their  native  country.  .   .  . 

"  In  1867-69  there  were  very  poor  harvests  in 


50 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


Sweden  and  of  course  the  consequences  were  disas- 
trous, especially  for  the  agricultural  population.  At 
the  same  time  the  United  States  was  enjoying  exceed- 
ingly prosperous  conditions  and  the  emigration  from 
this  country  reached  higher  figures  than  ever  before. 
In  the  eighties,  when  prosperous  times  in  America 
were  again  simultaneous  with  economic  depression  in 
Sweden,  the  numbers  of  emigrating  Swedes  became 
still  larger,  our  high-water  mark  being  reached  in 
1887.  The  figures  for  that  year  have  never  since  been 
equalled.  During  the  four  last  decades,  the  figures 
may  have  varied,  but  the  general  tendency  is  undoubt- 
edly a  decreasing  one.  .  .  .  The  prospects  of  getting 
a  living  at  home  are  really  better.  The  agricultural 
and  industrial  life  of  Sweden  is  steadily  making  prog- 
ress, and  the  whole  general  standard  of  living  is  being 
raised.  .  .  . 

"  The  wages  of  working  men  in  our  own  country 
cannot  perhaps  be  raised  to  the  American  level  of 
nominal  wages,  but  the  aim  of  our  social  reformers 
is  to  give  them  compensation  by  means  of  greater  secu- 
rity and  safety  in  the  form  of  state  insurance  against 
accidents,  sickness,  old  age,  and  even,  if  it  be  prac- 
tical, unemployment,  effective,  more  thorough-going 
factory  legislation,  etc." 

DIVERSION  OF  BRITISH  EMIGRATION 

In  Great  Britain  to-day  the  efforts  of  the  Home 
Government  are  strongly  on  the  side  of  directing  emi- 
gration to  the  colonies  of  the  British  Dominion.  Not 
only  so,  the  colonial  governments  themselves  in  Canada, 


DEVELOPMENT 


51 


Australia,  New  Zealand  and  South  Africa  are  offer- 
ing special  inducements  to  immigrants  of  British  na- 
tionality. 

Salaried  agents  of  the  Canadian  government  promote 
immigration  from  Great  Britain  to  the  British  colonies. 
Each  railroad  ticket  from  Great  Britain  to  Canada 
sold  to  a  British  subject,  signifying  his  intention  to 
follow  farming  or  railway  construction,  secures  to  the 
ticket-agent  selling  it  a  bonus  of  one  pound  sterling. 

In  addition  to  the  definite  promotion  by  British 
Colonial  government  agencies  of  emigration  to  Brit- 
ish colonies,  charitable,  philanthropic  and  religious  or- 
ganizations are  enlisted  in  the  same  cause.  In  our 
United  States,  in  1912,  1,333  aliens  were  excluded 
because  found  to  be  contract  laborers  and  31  were 
arrested  and  expelled  from  the  country  on  the  same 
ground.  But  Canada  and  Australia  are  importing  con- 
tract labor  freely. 

The  gradual  diversion  of  British  immigration  from 
America  is  due  chiefly  to  changed  conditions  on  the 
other  side  of  the  sea  and  to  strenuous  efforts  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  to  secure  their 
hold  on  their  own  people,  and  to  promote  through  them 
the  expansion  of  their  colonial  enterprises. 

FORCED  IMMIGRATION 

The  development  of  the  New  America  has  been  pro- 
moted not  only  by  voluntary  and  assisted  immigration 
from  Europe  but  by  forced  immigration  from  Africa. 

In  August,  16 19,  only  a  few  days  after  the  meeting 
of  the  first  representative  assembly  of  Virginia,  a 


52 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


Dutch  man-of-war  entered  the  James  River  and  landed 
on  Virginia  soil  twenty  negroes  for  sale.  All  the 
original  colonies  received  slaves  from  Africa  within 
their  borders.  In  the  background  of  the  struggle  for 
their  own  freedom  from  oppression  loomed  the  dark 
shadow  of  an  alien  race  enslaved  by  them. 

ANTI-SLAVERY  ENACTMENTS 

In  Rhode  Island  as  early  as  1652  a  law  was  enacted 
that  "  no  black  mankind  by  covenant,  bond  or  other- 
wise, shall  be  held  to  perpetual  service.  At  the  end 
of  ten  years  the  master  shall  set  them  free."  In  Ver- 
mont slavery  was  prohibited  by  law  from  the  begin- 
ning. Early  differences  of  opinion  on  the  subject  were 
expressed  in  the  colony  of  Virginia.  In  1772,  in  the 
Colonial  Assembly,  an  address  to  the  king  was  voted 
stating  that  "  The  importation  of  slaves  into  the 
colonies  from  the  coast  of  Africa  hath  long  been  con- 
sidered as  a  trade  of  great  inhumanity,"  and  express- 
ing the  fear  that  it  "  will  endanger  the  very  existence 
of  your  majesty's  American  dominions."  The  address 
proceeds,  "  We  are  sensible  that  some  of  your  ma- 
jesty's subjects  in  Great  Britain  may  reap  emoluments 
from  this  sort  of  traffic;  but  when  we  consider  that  it 
greatly  retards  the  settlement  of  the  colonies  with  more 
useful  inhabitants,  and  may  in  time  have  the  most 
destructive  influence,  we  presume  to  hope  that  the  inter- 
est of  a  few  will  be  disregarded,  when  placed  in  com- 
petition with  the  security  and  happiness  of  such  num- 
bers of  your  majesty's  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects." 

Mr.  Bancroft  tells  us  that  "  Thousands  in  Maryland 


DEVELOPMENT 


63 


and  in  New  Jersey  were  ready  to  adopt  a  similar 
petition,  so  were  the  legislatures  of  North  Carolina, 
of  Pennsylvania,  of  New  York.  Massachusetts,  in 
its  towns  and  in  its  legislature,  had  reprobated  the 
condition  of  slavery  as  well  as  the  sale  of  slaves."  By 
her  constitution,  adopted  in  1780,  Massachusetts  be- 
came a  free  commonwealth,  making  the  colored  in- 
habitants, about  six  thousand  in  number,  fellow- 
citizens,  without  distinction,  with  white  citizens. 

Delaware,  in  1776,  in  adopting  its  constitution  as  an 
independent  state,  characterized  its  article  prohibiting 
the  slave-trade,  as  one  which  "  ought  never  to  be  vio- 
lated on  any  pretense  whatever."  On  the  adoption  of 
the  constitution  of  New  York,  in  1777,  the  article 
against  the  continuance  of  slavery  was  lost,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  "  all  New  York's  great  states- 
men were  abolitionists." 

In  1778,  Virginia  succeeded  in  prohibiting  what  she 
had  attempted  vainly  before, — the  introduction  of  any 
slave  by  land  or  sea, — and  ordered  the  emancipation  of 
every  slave  introduced  from  abroad.  An  attempt  at 
framing  a  bill  for  the  emancipation  and  deportation  of 
resident  slaves  came  to  nothing. 

In  1782,  Thomas  Jefferson  declared,  "  Nothing  is 
more  certainly  written  in  the  book  of  fate  than  that 
these  people  are  to  be  free,"  and,  in  the  same  year, 
"  I  tremble  for  my  country  when  I  reflect  that  God  is 
just,  that  His  justice  cannot  sleep  forever.  The  way, 
I  hope,  is  preparing  under  the  auspices  of  Heaven,  for 
a  total  emancipation." 


54 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


THE  INSOLVABLE  PROBLEM 

After  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, slavery  was  one  of  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
effecting  a  strong  confederation  of  the  states. 

At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  in  1788,  it  was  found  to  be  impossible 
to  secure  agreement  on  the  question  of  slavery.  The 
"  three-fifths  of  all  other  persons,"  specified  in  Section 
II  of  Article  I,  being  understood  to  refer  to  slaves,  was, 
in  effect,  a  bequest  of  the  insolvable  problem  of  forced 
immigration  to  the  posterity  of  those  with  whom  it  had 
originated  and  who  were  unable  to  meet  it.  It  was  not 
a  silent,  obscure  problem.  At  every  step  of  advance- 
ment for  the  new  nation  the  shadow  of  slavery  emerged 
and  claimed  first  consideration. 

When  Vermont,  having  been  claimed  both  by  New 
York  and  New  Hampshire,  and  having  succeeded  in 
making  good  her  own  claim  to  separate  existence  as  a 
commonwealth,  applied  for  membership  in  the  Con- 
federation, her  admission  was  postponed  until  she 
could  be  "  paired  "  with  a  new  slave-holding  state,  in 
order  to  maintain  "  the  balance  of  power." 

Thomas  Jefferson  and  others  with  similar  convic- 
tions succeeded  in  securing  for  the  great  "  Northwest 
Territory  "  the  guarantee  of  freedom  in  the  ordinance 
that  "  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary 
servitude  in  the  said  territory,  otherwise  than  in  pun- 
ishment of  crimes." 

It  was  adopted  two  years  before  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  went  into  operation  because  it  took 
effect  immediately,  while  the  Constitution,  after  being 


DEVELOPMENT 


55 


framed  at  about  the  same  time,  was  sent  to  the  states 
to  be  adopted  by  their  conventions. 

GROWING  COMPLICATIONS 

Eli  Whitney's  invention  of  the  cotton-gin,  in  1793, 
revolutionized  the  chief  industry  of  the  Southern 
States.  Giving  increased  facility  in  preparing  cotton 
for  market,  it  increased  the  demand  for  labor  in  con- 
nection with  its  production,  thereby  enhancing  the 
value  of  their  negro  slaves  to  the  Southern  planters.  It 
has  been  said  that  this  invention  "  increased  the  value 
of  slave-labor  more  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  fold." 
Within  ten  years  the  exports  of  cotton  increased  more 
than  one  hundred  fold,  bringing  a  corresponding  in- 
crease in  wealth  to  the  planters.  Regarding  slavery 
as  essential  to  their  financial  prosperity,  they  gradually 
ceased  to  think  of  it  as  a  scourge  and  a  curse.  After 
a  time  it  came  to  be  a  cherished  institution,  to  be 
guarded  from  all  outside  regulation. 

In  the  slave  states,  free  immigration  from  Europe 
had  not  greatly  increased.  Not  only  was  the  dignity 
of  labor,  so  strongly  emphasized  in  the  North,  more 
attractive  to  immigration  than  the  prospect  of  sharing 
the  conditions  and  the  social  stigma  placed  on  the 
labor  of  slaves  in  the  South,  but  the  growing  manu- 
factures of  the  North  constantly  attracted  mechanics, 
while  the  lands  for  farming  brought  agriculturalists. 

Gradually,  but  surely,  it  became  evident  that  the  free 
North  was  gaining  dominance  in  almost  every  realm 
of  the  national  life.  Even  the  fact  that  three-fifths  of 
the  slaves  counted  in  the  enumeration  which  secured 


56 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


to  their  masters  representation  in  Congress,  did  not 
suffice  to  preserve  for  the  South  "  the  balance  of 
power,"  in  legislative  affairs,  while  the  North  was  re- 
inforced with  the  rapidly  increasing  immigration  from 
Europe. 

THE  POWER  OF  RELIGIOUS  CONVICTION 

When  the  question  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  arose 
in  Congress  intense  opposition  was  developed  on  the 
part  of  some  members  to  the  project,  as  one  to  in- 
crease the  slave-holding  area  of  the  United  States. 
Daniel  Webster,  speaking  at  a  reception  in  New  York 
in  March,  1837,  said,  "  When  I  say  that  I  regard 
slavery  in  itself  as  a  great  moral,  social,  and  political 
evil,  I  only  use  language  which  has  been  adopted  by 
distinguished  men,  themselves  citizens  of  slave-holding 
states.  .  .  . 

"  On  the  general  question  of  slavery,  a  great  portion 
of  the  community  is  already  strongly  excited.  The 
subject  has  not  only  attracted  attention  as  a  question 
of  politics,  but  it  has  struck  a  far  deeper-toned  chord. 
It  has  arrested  the  religious  feeling  of  the  country;  it 
has  taken  strong  hold  on  the  consciences  of  men.  He 
is  a  rash  man  indeed,  and  little  conversant  with  human 
nature,  and  especially  has  he  a  very  erroneous  estimate 
of  the  character  of  the  people  of  this  countr>-,  who 
supposes  that  a  feeling  of  this  kind  is  to  be  trifled  with, 
or  despised.  It  wall  assuredly  cause  itself  to  be  re- 
spected." 


DEVELOPMENT 


57 


THE  FINAL  STRUGGLE 

The  "  irrepressible  conflict "  grew  more  and  more 
intense  between  representatives  in  Congress  of  slave- 
holding  states  and  representatives  of  free  states.  In 
i860  the  war-cloud  which  had  grown  steadily  darker 
since  the  first  compromise  concerning  slavery,  burst 
over  the  country.  The  very  existence  of  the  United 
States  as  a  nation  was  at  stake. 

When  the  call  came  for  volunteer  troops  to  maintain 
the  Union,  recent  immigrants  from  across  the  sea  joined 
citizens  of  American  birth  in  service  which  proved 
their  readiness  to  pay  the  cost  of  citizenship  in  their 
adopted  country.  The  efifort  to  solve  the  problem  of 
forced  immigration  was  traced  in  characters  of  blood 
and  flame  through  the  anguish  of  the  Civil  War  in 
1860-65. 

Its  record  is  in  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States : 

"  Article  XIII.,  Sec.  I.  Neither  slavery  nor  in- 
voluntary servitude,  except  as  a  punishment  for  crime 
whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall 
exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place  subject  to 
their  jurisdiction. 

"  Section  II.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce 
this  article  by  appropriate  legislation." 

AFTER  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

In  1862,  our  immigration,  for  the  first  time  since 
1844,  was  less  than  one  hundred  thousand.  As  the 
regular  occupations  of  civil  life  were  resumed,  immi- 


58 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


gration  increased  and,  in  1866,  was  more  than  three 
hundred  thousand.  In  1882  it  reached  nearly  eight 
hundred  thousand. 

A  government  chart  of  immigration  showing  the 
numbers  of  each  nationality  represented  in  each  year 
from  1820  to  the  present  time,  gives  a  vivid  picture 
of  the  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  our  popula- 
tion. The  most  impressive  feature  of  the  chart  is  not 
the  statistics  of  total  immigration,  but  the  change  in 
the  countries  having  largest  representation  in  the  mak- 
ing of  those  totals. 


Ill 

ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN 
ELEMENTS 


Nay,  but  these  would  feel  and  follow  Truth  if  only  you  and 
you, 

Rivals  of  realm-ruining  party,  when  you  speak  were  wholly 
true. 

Plowmen,  Shepherds,  have  I  found,  and  more  than  once,  and 

still  could  find, 
Sons  of  God,  and  kings  of  men  in  utter  nobleness  of  mind. 
Truthful,  trustful,  looking  upward  to  the  practiced  hustings- 
liar  ; 

So  the  Higher  wields  the  Lower,  while  the  Lower  is  the 
Higher. 

Is  it  well  that  while  we  range  with  Science,  glorying  in  the 
Time, 

City  children  soak  and  blacken  soul  and  sense  in  city  slime? 
There  among  the  glooming  alleys  Progress  halts  on  palsied  feet, 
Crime  and  hunger  cast  our  maidens  by  the  thousand  on  the 
street. 

There  the  Master  scrimps  his  haggard  sempstress  of  her  daily 
bread. 

There  a  single __sordid  attic  holds  the  living  and  the  dead. 

Move  among  your  people,  know  them,  follow  him  who  led  the 
way, 

Earth  would  never  touch  her  worst,  were  one  in  fifty  such 
as  he. 

Ere  she  gain  her  Heavenly-best,  a  God  must  mingle  with  the 
game. 

Follow  Light,  and  do  the  Right — for  man  can  half  control  his 
doom — 

Till  you  find  the  deathless  Angel  seated  in  the  vacant  tomb. 

Alfred  Tennyson. 


Ill 


ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN  ELEMENTS 

FROM  1883  to  1907  eighty-one  per  cent  of  our 
European  immigration  came  from  the  countries 
of  Central  and  Southern  Europe, — Austria-Hun- 
gary, Bulgaria,  Servia,  Rumania,  Greece,  Montenegro, 
Russia  (including  Poland),  Portugal,  Spain,  Italy, 
Syria  and  Turkey. 

ITALIANS 

In  numbers,  Italy,  Austria-Hungary  and  Russia  have 
led  all  the  others.  In  1907  these  three  countries  fur- 
nished nearly  seventy  per  cent  of  the  total  immigra- 
tion of  the  year.  In  the  years  1899  to  19 10,  Italians 
led  all  others:  372,668  came  from  North  Italy,  1,911,- 
933  from  South  Italy, — a  total  of  more  than  two  and 
one-fourth  millions. 

North  Italians  differ  from  South  Italians  as  much 
as  the  Scotch-Irish  of  Ulster  differ  from  the  people 
of  Southern  Ireland.  Of  those  who  came  in  the  years 
1899  to  1909  inclusive,  11. 8  per  cent  of  North  Italian 
immigrants  were  illiterate;  of  South  Italians,  54.2  per 
cent. 

Italian  freedom  has  given  even  to  South  Italy  some 
amelioration  of  her  condition,  and  the  rise  of  educa- 

61 


62 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


tion  gives  promise  for  her  future.  South  Italians  are 
among  the  most  illiterate  of  the  races  coming  to  us 
to-day;  but  their  illiteracy  in  the  home  land  is  steadily 
diminishing. 

The  reports  of  the  Commissioner-General  of  Immi- 
gration from  1899  to  1910  show  that  the  proportion 
of  women  to  men  in  the  North  Italian  immigration  is 
21.7  to  78.3  per  cent,  and  of  the  South  Italian  21.4  to 
78.6  per  cent.  Seventy-four  per  cent  of  North  Italian 
immigrants  are  reported  as  having  returned  to  their 
native  land,  in  contrast  with  41  per  cent  of  South 
Italians. 

Victor  Von  Borosini,  in  The  Survey  for  September, 
28,  1912,  says,  "  One  lesson  they  all  take  home  is  the 
knowledge  of  how  great  a  handicap  is  illiteracy  in 
the  struggle  for  existence.  Hence  they  favor  strongly 
obligatory  instruction  for  their  children,  and  co-operate 
willingly  to  extend  the  system." 

Emigration  to  America  is  undertaken  by  many  fami- 
lies in  hope  of  "  doing  better  for  the  children."  A 
cobbler  in  New  York,  replacing  a  lost  heel  on  a  shoe, 
started  with  a  sudden  illumination  of  his  dark  face  at 
the  mention  of  Naples.  "  You  see  my  country, — my 
Italy?"  he  asked.  "Then  you  know  the  beauty,  the 
art  everywhere,  for  the  poorest!  " 

"  You  have  left  your  Italy,"  was  the  response. 
"Shall  you  go  back?" 

"  No-o,"  he  said  slowly.  "  My  children, — for  them, 
America.  My  boy,  he  go  school,  read,  write,  be  man. 
My  boy, — he  no  putta  heel  on  shoe."  He  had  named 
the  charm  of  America  to  thousands  of  foreign-speaking 


ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN  ELEMENTS  63 


parents  among  us.  The  children  are  to  rise  above  the 
condition  of  their  fathers  and  mothers. 

The  density  of  population  in  Italy  is  in  excess  of 
that  of  Germany,  France,  India  or  China.  In  the 
South  of  Italy,  where  the  birth-rate  is  highest  and 
the  poverty  greatest,  taxes  are  most  exorbitant;  13,000 
sales  of  land  for  non-payment  of  taxes  have  been 
made  in  a  single  year. 

In  the  matter  of  safeguarding  emigrants,  Italy  leads 
all  other  nations.  The  contract  for  transportation  is 
written,  and  a  copy  must  be  transmitted  to  the  Emigra- 
tion Service  of  Italy.  Each  ticket  must  contain  the 
name  of  the  emigrant,  name  of  agent  and  company, 
and  of  the  boat  (with  its  age,  speed,  tonnage,  flag, 
date  of  departure  and  duration  of  trip),  price  paid  for 
ticket,  weight  and  number  of  pieces  of  luggage.  The 
menus  and  quantity  of  food  to  which  a  person  is  en- 
titled must  be  printed  on  the  back  of  the  Italian  ticket. 
Italy  provides  for  proper  medical  treatment  in  illness 
and,  in  case  of  death,  for  decent  burial  at  sea. 

These  indications  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  gov- 
ernment even  for  citizens  who  emigrate  to  another 
land  may  influence  the  intense  love  of  the  Italian  for 
his  own  Italy.  However  illiterate,  he  idolizes  his 
national  heroes  and  revels  in  the  art  and  the  beauty  of 
his  native  land. 

An  Italian  visited  in  his  quarters  in  a  construction 
camp  shack,  brought  out  from  under  his  bunk  a  collec- 
tion of  beautiful  photographs  of  Italian  sculpture  and 
architecture,  and,  displaying  them  to  his  visitor,  said 
proudly :  Italia,  mia."  Then  indicating  with  an  ex- 
pressive shrug  of  shoulder,  gesture  of  hand  and  dis- 


64 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


tortion  of  face,  his  surroundings  in  the  shack,  he  added, 
"America!"  with  contemptuous  emphasis. 

The  rift  between  church  and  state  in  Italy  has  weak- 
ened the  hold  of  the  church  on  many  of  the  most 
patriotic  and  intelligent  citizens.  The  leaders  who 
achieved  liberty  for  Italy  have  a  stronger  hold  on  their 
imagination  and  their  enthusiasm  than  the  Pope  or  his 
subordinates.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  Italians 
coming  to  America  have  dropped  their  allegiance  to  the 
Roman  church  and  are  in  danger  of  dropping  with  it 
their  ideals  of  religious  life.  They  are  susceptible  to 
religious  influences,  and  responsive  to  the  ideal  of 
human  life  in  direct  communion  with  divine  life. 

Of  their  country  it  has  been  said  truly,  "  Italy  never 
became  barbarian."  The  illiteracy  of  the  present  can- 
not dim  the  genius  of  the  past,  or  make  the  world 
forget  what  art  and  science  owe  to  Italy.  In  science 
Galileo,  Galvani  and  Marconi  connect  the  past  with  the 
present  in  title  to  the  gratitude  of  the  world.  In  paint- 
ing no  names  have  come  to  replace  Michael  Angelo, 
Andrea  del  Sarto,  Raphael,  Da  Vinci,  Titian  and  Fra 
Angelico.  Her  Dante  and  Petrarch  and  Tasso  and 
Savonarola  have  given  lessons  of  religion,  of  life  and 
of  character  not  only  for  their  own  day  but  for  all 
generations  since  then  until  now. 

SLAVS 

The  Russian  is  the  leading  nationality  of  the  great 
Slav  group  which,  in  the  last  twelve  years,  has  fur- 
nished a  large  proportion  of  our  European  immigra- 


ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN  ELEMENTS  65 


tion.  In  this  group  belong  the  Poles,  Rumanians, 
Ruthenians,  Bohemians,  Moravians,  Bulgarians,  Ser- 
vians, Montenegrins,  Croatians,  Slovenians,  Slovaks 
and  others — believed  to  comprise  in  all  about  125,- 
000,000  of  the  population  of  the  globe. 

Of  the  so-called  Russian  immigration,  only  about 
two  per  cent  really  is  Russian.  Russian  peasants,  as  a 
rule,  are  too  poor  to  emigrate, — perhaps  too  much 
inured  to  oppression  to  possess  the  energy,  the  enter- 
prise, the  courage,  the  initiative,  involved  in  emigra- 
tion. The  Poles  and  Lithuanians  are  Slavic  peoples 
long  since  conquered  and  annexed  by  Russia.  The 
Finns,  although  dominated  by  Russia,  are  a  Teutonic 
people  with  a  Mongol  language. 

RUSSIAN  JEWS 

Five-sixths  of  the  Jewish  immigration  in  America 
comes  from  Russia  and  the  majority  of  the  other  one- 
sixth  comes  from  adjoining  territory  in  Austria-Hun- 
gary and  Rumania.  The  anti-Semitic  riots  in  1881  led 
to  the  beginning  of  the  large  immigration  to  America, 
which  has  continued  for  similar  reasons  since.  His 
high  birth-rate,  and  his  low  death-rate  make  the 
Jew  an  important  element  in  the  computation  of  immi- 
gration statistics  and  possibilities.  His  tenacity  of  life 
is  equalled  by  his  innate  tenacity  of  purpose. 

The  librarian  of  the  Children's  Department  of  a 
Public  Library  in  the  lower  East  Side  of  New  York, 
in  speaking  of  this  characteristic  of  Jewish  children, 
isaid,  "  If  a  child  of  almost  any  other  nationality,  asking 
for  a  particular  book,  is  told  that  the  book  is  out  but 


66 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


that  we  have  another  which  I  think  that  he  will  like 
just  as  well,  he  is  easily  persuaded  to  take  the  available 
book  and  to  be  quite  content  with  the  substitution.  A 
Hebrew  child,  on  the  contrary,  listens  to  my  glowing 
account  of  the  substitute  book,  looking  meantime  with 
unsatisfied  eyes  into  my  face,  and  when  I  have  finished, 

says,  '  But  I  want  ,'  naming  the  book  for  which  he 

has  asked.  When  he  has  been  convinced  that  it  really 
is  out,  he  asks,  '  When  will  it  be  in  ? '  He  takes  no 
substitute,  but  comes  again  and  again  for  that  particu- 
lar book,  and,  having  secured  it,  he  reads  it  through  to 
the  end." 

It  is  a  fact  well  known  that  the  sections  of  New 
York  in  which  Jews  predominate  are  the  sections 
in  which  library  records  show  the  largest  per  cent 
of  solid  reading, — the  smallest  per  cent  of  fiction, — the 
least  of  what  by  any  classification  can  be  considered 
"  trash."  In  our  colleges  and  universities  Jews  are 
ranking  high  in  scholarship.  Their  increasing  domi- 
nance in  America  is  worthy  of  thoughtful  considera- 
tion in  any  estimate  of  the  future  life  of  our  Republic. 

RUSSIAN  CHRISTIANS 

The  Russian  Protestant  Christians  who  come  to  us 
are  largely  imbued  with  that  same  type  of  freedom- 
loving  which  Mr.  Oscar  S.  Straus  in  "  Roger  Williams, 
the  Pioneer  of  Religious  Liberty,"  imputes  to  the 
founder  of  Rhode  Island,  characterizing  him  as  "  the 
Apostle  of  the  American  system  of  a  free  Church 
in  a  free  State." 

The  doctrine  of  the  separation  of  church  and  state 


ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN  ELEMENTS  67 


is  now  so  generally  accepted  and  so  unyieldingly  advo- 
cated by  most  bodies  of  Christians  in  America  that  no 
denomination  can  claim  any  monopoly  of  it;  but  in 
Russia,  where  it  is  steadily  making  headway  under  the 
advocacy  of  the  Baptist  denomination  through  whose 
insistence  it  was  first  promulgated  in  America,  it  is 
costing  imprisonment,  fines  and  scourgings  more  se- 
vere than  in  its  early  advocacy  in  America. 

It  is  not  despotic  Russia  that  asks  to  be  received  in 
America,  but  the  suffering  victims  of  Russia's  despot- 
ism. We  frequently  are  warned  to  beware  of  senti- 
mentalism  in  the  study  of  immigration,  and  are  assured 
that  however  it  may  have  been  in  earlier  days  the 
motive  for  present-day  immigration  is  economic.  The 
sufferings  of  Jews  in  Russia  are  so  well  known  as 
to  require  no  new  description;  but  the  need  of  asylum 
from  persecution  for  Protestant  Christians  is  not  so 
well  understood.  From  many  authentic  cases,  two  or 
three  may  be  given  here : 

Andreas  Erstratenko,  born  in  Russia,  in  1863,  was 
a  strong  partisan  of  the  Greek  Catholic  Church.  At 
twenty-seven  years  of  age,  after  joining  in  severe 
persecution  of  Protestants,  he  says  of  himself,  "  One 
day  it  dawned  on  me  that,  right  or  wrong,  they  had  a 
right  to  their  religious  views,  and  I  resolved  to  investi- 
gate them.  So  strong  a  hold  did  the  faith  take  that  I 
began  to  preach."  Then  began  a  long  series  of  per- 
secutions. Imprisoned  in  a  dungeon,  nearly  starved, 
beaten,  tortured  and  scourged  many  times,  he  refused 
to  recant. 

Feodott  Kastromin,  born  in  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  converted  to  the  Protestant  faith  in 


68 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


1884,  was  arrested  and  taken  before  a  magistrate  who 
announced  to  him  the  forfeiture  of  all  civil  rights 
unless  he  would  return  to  the  orthodox  church.  Six 
years  later  he  was  banished  to  Transcaucasia  because 
of  persistent  refusal  to  renounce  his  religion.  His 
property  was  confiscated,  his  family  was  broken  up 
and  separated  by  hundreds  of  miles  from  each  other. 
Although  loaded  with  heavy  chains,  scourged  and 
beaten  until  nearly  dead,  he  never  yielded  to  the  re- 
peated offer  of  freedom  in  return  for  the  renunciation 
of  his  faith. 

Vasilia  Ivanoff  was  twice  exiled,  imprisoned  in 
thirty-one  different  prisons,  forced  to  work  in  the 
treadmill,  chained  to  gangs  of  robbers,  "  and  worse." 
His  only  offense  was  that  of  being  a  Protestant  and 
communicating  his  faith  to  others.  He  has  persistently 
paid  the  cost  of  his  faith  and  has  baptized  fifteen  hun- 
dred adult  men  and  women.  Others  of  the  same  na- 
tionality and  faith  have  left  all  in  Russia  and  have 
brought  to  America  their  wives  and  children,  in  the 
hope  of  securing  here  for  their  own  families  and  for 
those  who  may  come  after  them,  what  Russia  fails  to 
give. 

Is  there  room  for  such  citizens  in  America?  If  they 
lack  full  enlightenment  as  to  the  principles  of  freedom 
and  of  democratic  government  their  experiences  have 
been  such  as  to  make  them  apt  pupils  under  sympathetic 
teaching.  In  the  Conference  of  State  Officials  on  Dis- 
tribution of  Admitted  Aliens  and  Other  Residents, 
held  in  Washington,  in  November,  191 1,  the  repre- 
sentative of  North  Dakota  reported,  The  Russian 
people  are  among  the  very  best  settlers  in  the  western 


ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN  ELEMENTS  69 


portion  of  the  state.  [They  are]  good  citizens,  good 
farmers  and  a  valuable  element  for  the  state  to  have." 

AUSTRO-HUNGARIANS 

Austria-Hungary  has  been  called  the  "  most  com- 
plicated social  mosaic  of  all  modern  nations." 

Within,  the  personal  influence  of  the  Emperor,  with- 
out, the  rival  interests  of  adjoining  nations,  hold 
together  elements  which  have  little  in  common,  and 
whose  large  emigration  suggests  the  centrifugal  forces 
at  work  among  the  people. 

The  chronic  political  unrest  in  Austria-Hungary,  the 
mutual  hatred  of  races  which  never  have  amalgamated 
with  each  other  in  all  the  centuries  of  their  joint  occu- 
pancy of  the  country,  are  matters  worthy  of  study 
by  all  who  realize  the  seriousness  of  immigration  prob- 
lems, and  the  desirability  of  learning  from  the  experi- 
ence of  other  nations. 

MAGYARS  AND  SLOVAKS 

The  Asiatic  Magyars,  despising  the  Slavs  whom  they 
conquered  a  thousand  years  ago,  still  inhabit  the  fer- 
tile plains  which  they  appropriated  for  themselves. 
The  Slovaks,  subject  to  Austria-Hungary,  feeling 
everywhere  the  yoke  of  the  Magyar  and  of  the  Ger- 
man power  which  makes  the  laws,  owns  the  land  and 
manages  administration,  are  born  to  a  heritage  of 
hatred  of  their  usurpers. 

Some  Slovak  young  men  in  an  American  city  left 
a  class  in  English  after  being  asked  to  read  a  few 


70 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


paragraphs  extolling  Kossuth.  Their  explanation  was, 
"  Kossuth  was  no  friend  to  Slovaks." 

In  another  city,  well-meaning  friends  built  a  two- 
storied  chapel  for  Hungarians,  offering  the  use  of  one 
story  to  Slovaks  and  the  other  to  the  Magyars  of  the 
same  religious  denomination.  They  found  that  neither 
company  would  occupy  it  if  the  other  were  to  find  a 
meeting-place  under  the  same  roof. 

A  Slovak  peasant  girl,  eighteen  years  of  age,  a  few 
weeks  after  her  arrival  in  America,  used  her  first 
knowledge  of  English  words  to  acquaint  her  employer 
with  herself,  in  this  manner.  "  Me,  Paulina  Dvora, — 
meOongar.*  Yes,  Oongar  Slovak,  wof  Magyar.  Mag- 
yar? No!  Slovak?  Yes!  Fader,  moder,  broder,  sis- 
ter, all,  all  Slovak, — not  Magyar.  Lady  oonderstand  ?  " 

By  means  of  facial  expression  and  gesture  this  im- 
migrant from  a  little  peasant  home  on  the  Carpathian 
Mountain-side  was  able  to  make  her  limited  English 
vocabulary  express  volumes  as  to  her  estimate  of  the 
relative  merits  of  the  two  races.  Later,  a  growth  in 
the  vocabulary  of  mutually  understood  words  enabled 
her  to  give  in  some  detail  to  her  employer  her  version 
of  the  thousand  years'  old  conquest  of  her  native  land 
by  Magyars  and  of  her  estimate  of  them  as  the 
newly  rich  of  the  country. 

The  Magyars,  in  discussing  this  ancient  history,  are 
more  likely  to  manifest  the  graceful  air  of  the  con- 
querors who,  having  won,  find  it  easy  to  accept  the 
verdict  of  the  arms  of  their  ancestors. 

The  Jews  of  Austria-Hungary,  enjoying  there  a 
greater  degree  of  consideration  than  elsewhere  except 

*  Hungarian. 


The  Worker 

[  have  bi'ok<-ii  my  hands  on  your  gTiinite. 

I  hiive  broken  niy  stren(i:th'on  your  steel. 
[  have  sweated    througJi  yeais    for  youi 
pleasure, 

I  have  woi  ked  like  a  slave  for  your  weal 
ind  what  is  the  v.ag^e  you  Have  paid  me  i 

You  masiers  and  drivers  of  men — 
Enough  so  I  come  in  my  hunger 
To  beg  for  more  labor  again  ! 

I  have  given  my  manhood  to  serve  you, 

I  have  given  my  gladness  and  youth; 
Vou   have  used  me,  and   spent  me,  aiic 
crushed  me, 
And  thrown  me  aside  without  ruth  ; 
You  have  shut  my  eyes  oft  from  the  sun 
light. 

My  lungs  from  the  nntainred  air. 
You  have  housed  me  in  liorrible  places 
Surrounded  by  squalor  and  care. 

I  have  built  you  the  world  in  its  beauty, 

I  have  brought  you  the  glory  and  spoil. 
You  have  blighted  my  si»us  aria  my  daugh- 
ters, 

You  have  scourtred  me  again  to  my  toil, 
Y"t  1  suffer  it  all  in  my  patience, 

For  somehow  I  dimly  have  known 
That  some  day  the  Worker  wiii  conquer 

In  a  world  that  was  meant  for  hi^  own  ! 

—Bertnu  Bra  ley 


ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN  ELEMENTS  71 


in  America,  have  become  the  controllers  of  finance, 
public  and  private,  to  such  an  extent  that  the  Magyars 
themselves,  in  numbers  which  are  causing  uneasiness 
in  their  own  government  circles,  are  emigrating  to 
America  in  search  of  new  opportunities  for  economic 
advantage. 

OTHER  SLAVIC  RACES  IN  AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 

Among  the  Slavic  people  of  the  northern  mountain 
region  of  Austria-Hungary  are  the  Czechs,  or  Bo- 
hemians, the  Moravians,  the  Poles  and  the  Ruthenians. 
In  the  south  are  the  Croatians,  Servians,  Slovenians, 
Dalmatians,  Rumanians. 

The  Ruthenians,  who  share  the  subjection  of  their 
fellow  Slavs  of  other  names,  have  their  own  inherited 
hatred  of  the  Poles  whose  serfs  they  were  in  the  days 
of  Poland's  departed  power. 

Aside  from  the  Jews,  who  characteristically  are  city- 
dwellers,  the  people  of  Austria-Hungary  are  agri- 
culturalists and  foresters.  They  are  lovers  of  the  soil 
and  of  their  own  homes.  But  in  addition  to  unhappy 
civic  conditions,  prohibitive  prices  for  ownership  and 
for  rental  are  driving  the  peasants  from  the  country 
to  find  a  possibility  of  economic  independence  else- 
where. 

Professor  Balch  tells  us  of  some  "  emigrants  from 
the  rich  eastern  countries  of  Croatia  and  Slavonia, 
who,  seeming  to  have  no  economic  reason  for  leaving 
home,  when  asked  why  they  were  going,  said,  "  We 
go  to  see  if  there  still  is  justice  in  the  world." 

Are  they  finding  it  in  America?   They  are  chiefly 


72 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


engaged  here  in  mining,  forestry  and  heavy  construc- 
tion work. 

The  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Industries  and 
Immigration  of  the  New  York  State  Department  of 
Labor,  191 1,  tells  us  that  "  Camps  on  public  works  are 
devoid  of  any  Americanizing  influences.  With  two  ex- 
ceptions there  are  no  amusements  or  recreations  other 
than  the  saloon,  no  educational  influences  and  no  re- 
ligious influences.  Most  of  them  have  no  regulations 
and  are  remote  from  authorities  and  are  therefore  a 
law  unto  themselves.  .  .  .  With  the  exception  of  the 
aqueduct  workers,  these  men  are  crowded  into  the 
barest  shanties,  hovels  or  barns,  with  no  sanitary  pro- 
visions, and  none  of  the  decencies  of  life,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  comforts.  These  quarters  provide  bunk-space 
only,  and  here  laborers  must  keep  their  clothes,  sup- 
plies of  food,  and  all  other  possessions.  .  .  .  The 
greed  or  cupidity  of  the  bosses  crowds  them  into  quar- 
ters which  soon  become  so  vermin-  and  germ-ridden 
that  they  prefer  to  sleep  out  of  doors.  .  .  .  There  is 
not  a  greater  menace  to  the  morality  and  health  of  our 
cities  to-day  than  these  camps.  ...  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  aliens  come  into  these  camps,  very  often 
directly  from  the  steamers,  through  the  hands  of  a 
padrone  who  is  the  only  person  other  than  their  fellow- 
workmen  whom  they  really  know.  .  .  .  [They]  get 
the  first,  and  very  often  their  only  impressions  of 
America,  from  these  padroni  and  camps." 

The  Report  proceeds,  "  The  need  of  learning  English 
to  progress  economically,  to  prevent  accidents,  to  be- 
come citizens,  to  enable  the  men  to  understand  their 
work  better  and  to  adopt  American  standards  of  living 


ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN  ELEMENTS  73 


is  imperative.  .  .  .  These  are  matters  of  vital  inter- 
est to  the  State  of  New  York,  and  if  these  men  are  to 
come  in  and  build  the  works  which  make  this  State  in- 
dustrially great,  and  to  man  the  industries  which  make 
it  economically  powerful,  it  must  be  realized  that  its 
power,  civic  and  political,  also  depends  in  some  measure 
on  the  treatment  and  opportunities  afforded  to  these 
workmen." 

POLISH  IMMIGRATION 

From  1899  to  1910  more  than  949,000  Poles  were 
counted  among  our  immigrants.  Coming  from  a  coun- 
try which  is  no  longer  theirs,  fleeing  from  the  tyranny 
of  Russia,  they  are  appreciative  of  the  degree  of 
liberty  which  they  find  in  the  land  of  their  adoption. 

They  are  dominantly  religious  by  nature.  It  has 
been  customary  to  classify  them  all  as  Catholics,  but 
it  is  estimated  that  not  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
3,000,000  in  this  country  are  affiliated  with  the 
Catholic  Church.  With  them,  as  with  immigrants 
from  other  Catholic  countries,  the  weakening  of  ties 
with  the  native  land  and  the  finding  of  a  larger  civic 
life  than  the  Old  World  had  offered,  tend  to  weaken 
the  hold  of  that  type  of  religion  which  is  associated 
in  their  minds  with  the  type  of  government  which  they 
have  left.  Unless  a  new  phase  of  religious  life  meets 
them  with  the  new  civic  life,  the  tendency  is  to  feel 
religion  to  be  outgrown  and  to  become  irreligious. 

Lord  Bacon's  aphorism,  "  Discipline  by  bishops  is 
fittest  for  monarchy  of  all  others,"  is  an  apt  expression 
of  the  unconscious  attitude  of  multitudes  of  immi- 


74 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


grants  who,  in  coming  to  America,  leave  behind  them 
"  the  discipHne  of  bishops,"  with  "  monarchy,"  in  the 
Old  World. 

"  We  call  them  Polacks,"  said  the  crude  young  fore- 
man of  a  cotton  mill.  "  They  don't  know  anything  but 
to  work,  and  we  drive  them  like  cattle  to  that." 

Perhaps  it  had  not  occurred  to  the  young  foreman 
that  Paderewski,  "  the  greatest  pianist  ever,"  whom  he 
had  heard  play  a  few  evenings  before,  is  a  "  Pole," 
or  that  Chopin  was  their  fellow-countryman,  or  that 
Copernicus  was  of  their  nationality.  He  may  never 
have  heard  of  Pulaski  and  Kosciusko  and  of  our  in- 
debtedness to  their  services  in  the  Revolutionary  War, 
when  they  fought  for  our  independence.  In  those  days 
we  were  poor  and  small,  numbering  only  about  three 
and  a  half  million  souls.  Poland  was  one  of  the  great 
powers  of  Central  Europe  two  hundred  years  before  the 
beginning  of  our  national  life. 

If  the  young  foreman  is  a  worthy  son  of  the 
American  Revolution  he  will  find  a  way  to  pay  to 
these  newcomers,  in  some  measure,  the  debt  which 
his  ancestors  and  he  owe  to  the  Poles  who  helped 
to  give  freedom  to  the  New  America.  Of  Polish  im- 
migrants admitted  in  1899-1909,  35.4  per  cent  were 
illiterate.  The  foreman  will  help  not  only  the  Poles, 
but,  quite  as  much,  the  Americans  among  whom  the 
Poles  live,  if  he  will  teach  reading  and  writing  to 
these  new  residents  of  his  country,  who  never  have  had 
his  opportunities  for  education. 

Mr.  Alexander  E.  Cance,  in  charge  of  that  part  of 
the  report  of  the  Federal  Immigration  Commission 
which  treats  of  the  "  new  immigration  "  in  agriculture, 


ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN  ELEMENTS  75 


says  in  The  Survey  of  January  7,  191 1,  "The  goal 
of  early  Polish  immigration  was  northern  Illinois  and 
Wisconsin.  After  1885  the  stream  of  Slavic  immi- 
gration set  in  very  strongly,  and  Polish  rural  colonies 
began  to  dot  the  prairies  of  Minnesota  and  the  Dakotas 
as  well  as  the  Lake  states. 

"  Unlike  the  early  peasants,  who  came  directly  from 
Europe  in  search  of  cheap  land  and  homes  of  their 
own,  a  large  percentage  of  these  men  are  day-laborers 
who  have  been  engaged  in  the  mines,  steel  mills,  quar- 
ries or  urban  industrial  pursuits,  and  who  are  attracted 
to  farms  by  advertisements  in  Polish  papers  or  the 
solicitation  of  Polish  land  agents.  They  settle  in  small 
groups,  their  location  is  directed,  they  bring  more 
money  than  the  arrivals  directly  from  abroad,  and 
when  they  are  fairly  dealt  with  they  make  more  rapid 
progress  than  the  earlier  immigration." 

In  a  Conference  on  Distribution  of  Admitted  Aliens 
and  Other  Residents,  held  in  Washington  in  191 1, 
the  representative  of  Wisconsin  said,  "  The  Polish 
have  proven  to  be  very  good  citizens  with  us.  We 
want  all  the  Polish  people  we  can  get,  every  one." 

In  the  same  conference,  the  representative  from 
Massachusetts  reported,  "  In  Massachusetts  the  Po- 
lander  goes  out  into  the  western  part  of  the  state  and 
buys  up  land  that  has  been  perhaps  deserted  by  the 
Yankee.  They  want  to  own  the  soil,  to  own  their  own 
farms,  and  they  are  making  very  great  successes  out 
there." 

The  subject  which  was  considered  by  the  Polish 
National  Alliance,  recently  assembled  in  its  congress — ■ 
"  How  Poles  may  become  better  citizens  of  this  coun- 


76 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


try  while  retaining  their  love  for  the  traditions  of 
their  motherland  " — gives  some  indication  of  their 
attitude  toward  the  land  of  their  adoption. 

BOHEMIANS 

It  has  been  said  of  Bohemians  by  one  of  their 
own  nationality  that  "  they  have  had  such  a  stormy 
national  struggle,  and  the  bitterness  of  it  has  so  entered 
into  their  lives  that  it  is  impossible  to  judge  them 
rightly  apart  from  it." 

We  who  know  little  of  them  shall  fail  to  estimate 
their  true  value  as  citizens  unless  we  know  something 
of  their  past.  It  is  well  known  that  only  a  fraction 
more  than  one  per  cent  of  them  are  illiterate, — less 
than  the  per  cent  of  illiterate  native-born  Ameri- 
cans. Is  it  equally  well  known  that  their  University 
of  Prague  was  founded  in  1348, — more  than  half  a 
century  earlier  than  the  great  German  universities, — 
and  that  it  was  the  first  higher  institution  of  learning 
in  that  part  of  Europe?  At  the  time  of  the  death  of 
its  founder.  King  Charles  I.  of  Bohemia,  in  1378,  it 
had  enrolled  more  than  seven  thousand  students. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  the  assertion  by  Charles  I. 
of  the  right  of  the  electors  to  choose  the  emperor 
without  waiting  for  the  confirmation  of  their  choice  by 
the  Pope,  was  considered  revolutionary  and  was  the 
harbinger  of  the  separation  of  church  and  state,  which 
in  that  age  seemed  incredible,  but  which  is  now  a 
fundamental  principle  of  our  government. 

When  John  Huss  was  burned  at  the  stake,  in  1415, 
the  University  declared  him  a  saint  and  a  martyr,  and 


ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN  ELEMENTS  77 


Bohemians,  nobles  and  common  people,  swore  that  to 
their  latest  breath  they  would  uphold  the  religious 
freedom  for  which  he  had  given  his  life. 

When  Ferdinand  II.  began  his  reign  in  1619,  nine- 
tenths  of  the  population  was  Protestant.  At  its  end, 
eighteen  years  later,  with  the  aid  of  the  Catholic 
League  and  the  Jesuits,  he  had  banished  and  destroyed 
the  representatives  of  Protestantism  throughout  Bo- 
hemia. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  Bohemia 
was  one  of  the  most  advanced  countries  of  Europe  in 
point  of  culture.  The  population  of  more  than  four 
millions  was  reduced  by  starvation,  by  torture,  by  vari- 
ous forms  of  martyrdom  and  by  exile,  to  eight  hundred 
thousand.  What  outrages,  what  indignities,  what  hor- 
rors, have  not  the  ancestors  of  present-day  Bohemians 
suffered  in  the  name  of  religion !  No  race  of  people  on 
earth  has  a  deeper  right  to  see  manifested  a  spirit  of  true 
Christian  brotherhood  than  Bohemians,  in  connection 
with  whom  the  term  has  been  so  travestied. 

Not  only  were  life,  property  and  religious  freedom 
destroyed  by  the  unrelenting  persecutors  of  Protestant 
Bohemians,  but  their  priceless  literature,  instinct  for 
two  hundred  years  with  a  spirit  of  freedom  and  pa- 
triotism, was  condemned  to  the  flames. 

Bohemians  began  coming  to  America  in  large  num- 
bers after  the  revolution  of  1848.  They  settled  in 
New  York,  St.  Louis,  Milwaukee,  Chicago  and  in  rural 
districts  in  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  Texas  and 
California.  Texas  has  a  Bohemian  population  of  more 
then  50,000,  engaged  principally  in  agriculture.  More 
than  half  of  them  now  own  their  own  property,  free  of 


•78 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


debt.  A  recent  writer  in  the  Texas  Magazine  tells  us 
that,  "  together  with  the  Germans,  the  Bohemian  farm- 
ers have  given  Texas  her  great  agricultural  industries, 
and  have  been  responsible  largely  for  her  rapid  de- 
velopment." Favorable  comment  is  made  by  this 
writer  on  their  quickness  "  to  utilize  improvements  in 
machinery  and  methods  of  agriculture." 

100,189  Bohemians  and  Moravians  came  to  the 
United  States  between  1899  1910.  More  than  one- 
half  of  the  Bohemians  coming  to  us  are  skilled  work- 
men. Of  the  Germans  and  Dutch,  one-third  are  skilled, 
and  of  the  Scandinavians,  one-fourth. 

Bohemians  have  qualities  which  any  nation  might 
covet  for  its  citizens.  To  inspire  them  with  a  new 
patriotism,  a  new  faith  in  their  fellow-men,  a  new 
trust  in  their  Father  as  the  leader  of  all  His  children 
toward  increasing  light  and  power,  is  a  task  well  worth 
the  efifort  of  American  Christendom. 

BALKAN  RACES 

The  year  19 12  saw  the  coming  into  prominence 
among  European  nations  of  a  group  of  nationalities 
little  known  in  modern  times.  Until  recently  "  The 
Balkans  "  has  not  been  written  large  in  accounts  of 
the  nations  of  the  world.  We  now  know  more  of  some 
of  the  people  of  the  Balkan  peninsula  than  ever  before, 
and  are  turning  with  new  interest  to  the  records  made 
in  America  by  their  representatives  who  have  come  to 
our  shores. 

Reports  of  the  Commissioner-General  of  Immigra- 
tion show  that  from  1899  to  1910,  of  Bulgarians, 


Greek  Bride  and  Bridegroom 


ADDITIONAL  EUROPEAN  ELEMENTS  79 


Servians  and  Montenegrins,  classed  together,  97,391 
came  to  the  United  States.  In  the  same  period  we 
received  82,704  Rumanians.  Of  Dalmatians,  Bosnians 
and  Herzegovinians,  31,696.  Of  Croatians  and  Slo- 
venians, classed  together,  335,543;  of  Greeks,  216,962; 
of  Turks,  12,954, — a  total  of  777,250. 

At  first  glance,  the  most  impressive  feature  of  the 
immigration  record  of  these  nationalities  is  the  high 
per  cent  of  illiteracy;  in  the  first  group,  41.8  per  cent; 
in  the  second,  34.7;  in  the  third,  36.4;  in  the  fourth 
36.4;  of  the  Greeks  27,  of  the  Turks  58.9  per  cent. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  in  The  Outlook,  for  November 
23,  1912,  says,  "  No  other  nation  has  traveled  so  far 
and  so  fast  as  Bulgaria  has  traveled  in  the  last  third  of 
a  century." 

In  America,  Bulgarians  are  found  oftenest  in  the 
Middle  West,  Northwest,  South  and  Southwest. 
They  are  characterized  by  industry  and  thrift.  They, 
with  Greeks  and  Macedonians,  are  patronizers  of 
coffee-houses  rather  than  of  saloons.  They  and  the 
Greeks  are  named  by  investigators  of  the  Immigration 
Commission,  as  living  "  most  plainly  "  of  all  the  group 
of  nationalities  with  which  they  were  found  associated. 
They  are  reported  as  strong  workers  in  iron  and 
steel, — "  rather  heavy,  patient,  serious  toilers." 

Those  in  America  who  knew  the  Bulgarian  best 
were  least  prepared  for  his  transfiguration  in  a  white 
heat  of  patriotism,  as  he  dropped  his  tools  and  started 
in  a  wild  rush  to  meet  the  opportunity  of  the  centuries 
in  his  native  land. 

The  Bulgarians  at  home  are  described  as  being  char- 
acterized by  indomitable  courage  and  thrift,  by  "  a 


80 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


passion  for  education,"  and  by  "  purity  of  home  life 
maintained  through  a  thousand  years."  Since  1885, 
when  they  freed  themselves  from  Russia,  they  have 
improved  their  opportunity  for  educational  and  indus- 
trial advancement.  In  another  quarter  of  a  century  a 
new  record  of  literacy  will  be  made. 

The  Bible  in  the  vernacular,  brought  to  every  Bul- 
garian fireside,  has  been  the  great  inspiring  agency  of 
the  new  life  in  Bulgaria,  and  two  Christian  colleges — 
Robert  and  the  Constantinople  College  for  Girls — have 
furnished  leaders  for  the  expression  of  the  new  life. 

Dr.  Edward  A.  Steiner,  in  Tlie  Outlook  of  Novem- 
ber 9,  1912,  reminds  us  that  "while  in  the  north  of 
Europe  our  forefathers  built  schools  and  followed  the 
arts  and  commerce,  the  people  of  the  Balkans  held 
watch  upon  their  mountains,  followed  the  plow,  sword 
in  hand,  that  we  in  peace  might  prepare  ourselves  for 
the  great  tasks  of  Christian  culture  and  civiliza- 
tion. .  .  . 

"  [The  Balkan  spirit]  is  a  religious  spirit  bearing 
the  imprint  of  a  great  mission.  To  have  been  a  wall 
against  the  battering-rams  of  the  Moslem,  to  have 
borne  the  brunt  of  the  first  onslaught,  to  have  felt  the 
last  assaults  of  his  retreating  armies,  has  been  a  sacri- 
ficial and  a  vicarious  task."  Does  America  need  citi- 
zens capable  of  such  tasks  ? 


IV 

TENDENCIES 


Be  with  us  while  the  New  World  greets 
The  Old  World  thronging  all  its  streets, 
Unveiling  all  the  triumphs  won 
By  art  or  toil  beneath  the  sun ; 
And  unto  common  good  ordain 
This  rivalship  of  hand  and  brain. 

Thou,  who  hast  here  in  concord  furled 
The  war  flags  of  a  gathered  world, 
Beneath  our  Western  skies  fulfil 
The  Orient's  mission  of  good-will. 
And,  freighted  with  love's  Golden  Fleece, 
Send  back  its  Argonauts  of  peace. 

For  art  and  labor  met  in  truce, 
For  beauty  made  the  bride  of  use, 
We  thank  Thee :  but,  withal,  we  crave 
The  austere  virtues  strong  to  save, 
The  honor  proof  to  place  or  gold. 
The  manhood  never  bought  nor  sold ! 

Oh  make  Thou  us,  through  centuries  long, 
In  peace  secure,  in  justice  strong; 
Around  our  gift  of  freedom  draw 
The  safeguards  of  Thy  righteous  law; 
And,  cast  in  some  diviner  mold. 
Let  the  new  cycle  shame  the  old ! 

John  Greenleaf  Whittier. 


IV 


TENDENCIES 


IHE  government  of  the  United  States  is  definitely 


facing  the  problem  of  the  future  as  to  new  ad- 


missions. The  people  of  the  United  States  in 
their  individual  capacity  must  face  the  problem  of  the 
future  with  those  who  already  are  here. 

The  question  of  what  the  character  of  this  nation 
is  to  be  for  future  generations  is  as  important  for  our 
citizens  of  alien  birth  as  for  descendants  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  or  of  the  first  families  of  Virginia.  A  nation 
as  truly  as  an  individual  has  its  mission  to  perform, 
its  characteristic  influence  to  exert  on  the  character 
of  the  world. 


In  1882  our  federal  government  first  assumed  the 
function  of  controlling  immigration.  A  conviction  of 
the  determinative  bearing  of  immigration  on  the  entire 
life  and  the  whole  future  of  America  led  to  the  creation 
by  Congress,  in  1907,  of  the  Immigration  Commission. 

This  Commission  gave  four  years  to  the  study  of  the 
problem  committed  to  it.  It  "  secured  original  informa- 
tion concerning  more  than  3,000,000  individuals,  or 
about  one-thirtieth  of  the  population  of  the  United 


CONTROL  OF  IMMIGRATION 


83 


84 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


States,  including  one-eighth  of  all  the  public  school 
children;  and,  in  some  of  the  leading  industries  as 
many  as  fifty  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  wage- 
earners  employed."  The  resulting  data  certainly  are 
entitled  to  be  considered  with  care,  whatever  con- 
clusions may  be  drawn  from  them. 

TESTS  FOR  ADMISSION  OF  IMMIGRANTS 

The  concern  of  our  government  for  the  effect  of 
immigration  on  our  national  life  has  led  to  more 
stringent  regulations,  more  severe  tests  for  admission 
and  more  rigid  application  of  such  tests.  The  regula- 
tions reject  all  who  are  physically  or  mentally  feeble  or 
diseased,  all  criminal,  all  immoral,  all  insane.  They 
compel  steamship  companies  to  return  free  all  passen- 
gers rejected  by  our  immigration  officials,  fining  them 
in  addition  $100  for  each  case. 

The  table  on  the  opposite  page,  copied  from  the  Re- 
port of  the  Secretary'  of  Commerce  and  Labor  for  19 12, 
gives  the  number  and  causes  of  rejections  for  the  years 
1907  to  19 12,  inclusive. 

ADMITTED  IMMIGRANTS 

At  the  time  of  entrance  more  than  80  per  cent  of 
our  immigrants  are  between  fourteen  and  forty- four 
years  of  age.  It  is  the  time  of  greatest  strength  and 
productivity  in  the  average  human  life.  A  little  more 
than  12  per  cent  are  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  the 
period  of  greatest  susceptibility.  Five  per  cent  are 
more  than  forty-four  years  of  age. 


TENDENCIES 


83 


Cause  of  Rejection 

1907 

I9O0 

1909 

1910 

191  r 

19x2 

29 


20 

18 

i6 

12 

10 

Imbeciles  

45 

42 

40 

26 

44 

Feeble-minded  persons. 

121 

121 

125 

126 

no 

Insanity  (including  epi- 

167 

189 

184 

198 

144 

133 

Likely  to  become  public 

charges,  including 

paupers  and  beggars. . 

6,866 

3.741 

4.458 

15.927 

12,048 

8,182 

Afflicted  with  contagious 

1.674 

diseases  

3,822 

2,847 

2,308 

3.033 

2,735 

Afflicted  with  tubercu- 

59 

82 

95 

III 

74 

Physically  or  mentally 

870 
136 

370 
273 

312 

500 

3.055 
644 

2,288 

341 

592 

Prostitutes  and  other 

18 

124 
43 

323 
181 

316 
179 

253 
141 

263 
192 

Procurers  of  prostitutes 

I 

Contract  laborers  

1.434 

1,932 

1,172 

1,786 

1.336 

1.333 

The  Immigration  Commission,  in  its  study  of  tend- 
encies, had  an  accurate  record  kept  for  seven  months 
from  August  i,  1908,  to  February  28,  1909,  of  all 
charity  patients  entering  Bellevue  and  other  allied  hos- 
pitals in  New  York  where  the  great  bulk  of  immigrant 
patients  are  treated. 

ALCOHOLISM 

The  Report  of  the  Commission  tells  us  that  "  of 
the  23,758  cases  treated  at  Bellevue  and  allied  hos- 
pitals during  the  period  covered  by  the  Commission's 
inquiry,  25.5  per  cent  of  the  native-born  and  18.2 
per  cent  of  the  foreign-born  persons  involved  were 
treated  for  alcoholism.  Among  the  foreign-born  this 
treatment  was  confined  almost  entirely  to  the  races 


86 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


of  old  immigration,  such  as  the  Irish,  Scotch,  Enghsh 
and  Germans,  while  relatively  very  few  southern  and 
eastern  Europeans  were  treated  for  that  cause.  A 
striking  difference  between  the  old  and  new  immigra- 
tion in  this  regard  was  also  apparent  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree  in  the  many  industrial  communities  included 
in  the  Commission's  general  investigation." 

INSANITY 

Much  has  been  said  of  insanity  among  representa- 
tives of  the  new  immigration.  Statistics  *  compiled 
from  United  States  Census,  Special  Report,  "  Insane 
and  Feeble-minded  in  Hospitals  and  Institutions, 
1904,"  show  that  the  number  of  insane  in  hospitals  in 
the  United  States  in  1903  was  186.2  to  100,000  popu- 
lation. In  England  and  Wales  it  was  340.1,  in  Ire- 
land 490.9,  in  Austria  in  1901,  57;  in  Hungary  in 

1902,  14. 1.  In  continental  United  States,  of  the 
foreign-born  white  insane  enumerated  in  hospitals  in 

1903,  29  per  cent  were  born  in  Ireland,  26.9  per  cent 
in  Germany,  6.5  per  cent  in  Canada,  2.3  per  cent  in 
Italy,  2.2  per  cent  in  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  4.4  per 
cent  in  Russia  and  Poland. 

These  statistics  seem  to  indicate  that  the  people  of 
our  new  immigration  are  relatively  a  sane,  "  level- 
headed "  class.  The  serious  and  disturbing  changes  of 
environment,  of  occupation  and  of  mode  of  living,  the 
misunderstandings,  disappointments,  injustices  and  dis- 

*From  "The  Immigration  Problem,"  by  Jeremiah  W.  Jenks, 
Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  and  W.  Jett  Lauck,  A.B.  Funk  &  Wagnalls 
Company,  New  York  and  London. 


TENDENCIES 


87 


tresses  of  body  and  mind  which  they  experience  as  a 
result  of  ignorance  of  the  language  and  customs  of 
the  country,  might  easily  distract  them  to  the  verge  of 
insanity  if  they  were  not  well-poised  by  nature  and  by 
habit. 

PAUPERISM 

Does  the  new  immigration  tend  to  add  to  the  pauper- 
ism of  America? 

Immigrants  are  not  allowed  to  enter  empty-handed. 
The  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  reporting  for 
19 1 2,  says,  "  The  total  amount  of  money  shown  to  in- 
spection officers  by  arriving  aliens  during  the  past 
fiscal  year  was  $30,353,721,  or  an  average  of  about 
$36  per  person." 

From  1907  to  19 12  inclusive,  immigrants  to  the  num- 
ber of  51,222  were  rejected  on  the  ground  of  being 
"  liable  to  become  a  public  charge." 

The  Immigration  Commission,  with  the  assistance  of 
the  Associated  Charities  in  forty-three  cities, — taking 
in  practically  all  the  large  immigrant  centers  except 
New  York, — during  six  months  including  the  winter 
of  1908-1909,  reached  the  conclusion  that  "only  a 
very  small  percentage  of  the  immigrants  now  arriving 
apply  for  relief."  This  statistical  investigation  *  cov- 
ered 31,374  cases  actually  receiving  assistance. 

Commenting  on  these  statistics,  Dr.  Jenks  and  Mr. 
Lauck,  in  "  The  Immigration  Problem,"  say,  "  If  we 
attempt  to  discriminate  among  the  different  races,  it 
appears  that  it  is  among  the  immigrants  of  the  earlier 

•Reports  of  Immigration  Commission,  Doc.  665,  including 
1839  pages. 


88 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


period,  or  those  coming  from  Northern  Europe,  that 
we  find  apparently  the  largest  number  of  cases  of  neg- 
lect or  bad  habits  of  the  breadwinner. 

"  For  example,  among  the  South  Italians,  only  8.7 
per  cent  give  this  cause,  whereas  the  Irish  give  20.9 
per  cent,  the  English  14  per  cent,  the  Germans  15.7 
per  cent,  the  Norwegians  25.9  per  cent.  The  Hebrews, 
again  as  representatives  of  the  later  immigrants,  give 
12.6  per  cent." 

SANITARY  CONDITIONS 

Does  the  new  immigration  increase  the  unsanitary 
condition  of  towns  and  cities? 

The  Immigration  Commission  made  a  thorough 
study  of  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  poorer  quar- 
ters inhabited  by  immigrants  of  various  races,  in  the 
seven  cities,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Chicago, 
Buffalo,  Cleveland  and  Milwaukee.  The  inquiry  cov- 
ered over  10,200  households  and  over  51,000  indi- 
viduals. 

The  Commission  reports :  "  The  average  conditions 
were  found  materially  better  than  had  been  anticipated. 
Moreover,  a  comparison  of  the  conditions  in  a  great 
city  like  New  York  or  Chicago  with  those  in  some  of 
the  smaller  industrial  centers,  such  as  mining  or  manu- 
facturing towns,  shows  that  average  conditions  as 
respects  overcrowding  are  very  materially  worse  in 
some  of  the  small  industrial  towns  than  in  the  large 
cities.  .   .  . 

"  In  the  large  cities  much  more  frequently  than  is 
generally  thought,  the  population  changes.    New  im- 


TENDENCIES 


89 


migrants  are  attracted  to  these  poorer  residential  quar- 
ters by  the  presence  of  friends  or  relatives  and  the 
necessity  of  securing  living  quarters  at  the  low^est  pos- 
sible cost,  but  as  their  economic  status  improves  after 
living  in  this  country  for  some  time,  they  very  gen- 
erally move  to  better  surroundings.  The  undesirable 
districts  of  the  cities  that  are  now  inhabited  largely 
by  recent  immigrants  were  formerly  populated  by 
persons  of  the  earlier  immigrant  races.  .   .  . 

"  In  many  instances,  too,  where  deplorable  condi- 
tions were  found  they  were  due  in  part,  at  any  rate,  to 
circumstances  over  which  the  inhabitants  have  little 
direct  control,  such  as  a  poor  water  supply  or  unsanitary 
drainage — matters  that  should  be  attended  to  by  the 
city  authorities. 

"  While  instances  of  extreme  uncleanliness  were 
found,  the  care  of  the  households  as  regards  cleanli- 
ness and  an  attempt  to  live  under  proper  conditions 
was  usually  found  unexpectedly  good,  about  five-sixths 
of  all  the  families  visited  in  the  poorer  quarters  of  these 
large  cities  keeping  their  homes  in  reasonably  good,  or 
fair  condition." 

Mr.  E.  A.  Goldenweiser,  expert  in  charge  of  City 
Inquiry  for  the  Commission,  writes  in  The  Survey  of 
January  7,  191 1,  "In  connection  with  the  prevailing 
opinion  about  the  filth,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the 
natural  element  of  the  immigrant,  it  is  an  interesting 
fact  that  while  perhaps  five-sixths  of  the  blocks  studied 
justified  this  belief,  so  far  as  the  appearance  of  the 
street  went,  five-sixths  of  the  interiors  of  the  home 
were  found  to  be  fairly  clean,  and  two  out  of  every  five 
were  immaculate.   When  this  is  considered  in  connec- 


90 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


tion  with  the  frequent  inadequate  water  supply,  the 
dark  halls  and  the  large  number  of  families  living  in 
close  proximity,  the  responsibility  for  uncleanliness 
and  unsanitary  conditions  is  largely  shifted  from  the 
immigrants  to  the  landlords,  and  to  the  municipal 
authorities  who  spare  no  expense  in  sprinkling  oil  to 
save  the  wealthy  automobilists  from  the  dust,  but  are 
very  economical  when  it  comes  to  keeping  the  poorer 
streets  in  a  habitable  condition.  The  water  supply,  the 
drainage,  and  the  condition  of  the  pavement  are  also 
outside  the  jurisdiction  of  the  tenants;  and  yet  their 
neglect  results  in  bad  conditions  for  which  the  resident 
of  the  crowded  districts  is  blamed." 


AGRICULTURAL  PURSUITS 

Has  the  new  immigration  any  tendency  to  develop 
the  agricultural  resources  of  America? 

The  old  immigration  had  a  choice  of  homesteads  in 
the  Middle  West  at  lower  rates  than  can  be  found  to- 
day. But  great  areas  of  unoccupied  territory  farther 
West  await  development;  and  smaller  areas  farther 
East,  once  occupied,  are  open  for  new  cultiva- 
tion. 

The  Immigration  Commission  investigated  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  rural  groups,  including 
Italians,  Hebrews,  Poles,  Bohemians  and  Portuguese,  in 
nineteen  states.  Mr.  Alexander  E.  Cance,  in  charge  of 
that  part  of  the  Report  of  the  Commission,  says  in  The 
Survey  of  January  7,  191 1,  "Of  the  forty  or  more 
Italian  communities  visited  in  thirteen  states,  the  old- 
est and  largest  groups  are  the  berry-  and  truck-growers 


TENDENCIES 


91 


on  the  pine  barrens  of  New  Jersey.  .  .  .  Both  north 
and  south  ItaHans  are  landowners  at  Vineland,  and 
Hammonton  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  south  Italian 
settlements  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  In  origin 
and  development  both  are  typically  unassisted  colonies, 
whose  progress  has  been  continuous  since  the  seventies, 
and  whose  numbers  have  been  augmented  chiefly 
from  abroad.  These  groups  number  perhaps  twelve 
hundred  families  of  Italian  origin,  and  here  veritably 
the  '  magic  of  property  '  has  '  turned  sand  into  gold.' 
The  hundreds  of  little  berry  farms,  vineyards,  or  sweet 
potato  or  pepper  fields,  which  make  these  Italian  com- 
munities real  oases  in  a  waste  of  sand  and  lowland,  bear 
unmistakable  testimony  to  the  ability  of  the  much- 
maligned  south  Italian  to  create  wealth  and  to  make 
progress  materially,  morally  and  politically  under  rural 
conditions. 

"  At  Vineland  the  original  immigration  set  in  from 
northern  Italy,  but  more  recently  a  large  number  of 
Sicilians  and  other  south  Italians  have  come.  .  .  . 
The  first  arrivals  have  passed  well  beyond  the  experi- 
mental and  pioneer  stages  and  many  of  them  are 
pointed  out  as  the  most  substantial  citizens  in  the  com- 
munity. They  are  prosperous,  influential  and  intelli- 
gent farmers  and  proprietors.  .  .  .  There  is  a  fourth 
class,  the  American-born  Italian,  who  represents  the 
new  Italian  farmer,  born  on  the  soil  he  cultivates. 
He  is  the  progressive  farmer  who  dares  to  try  new 
machinery,  new  equipment,  new  varieties  and  new 
methods.  He  subscribes  to  an  agricultural  paper  and 
belongs  to  a  farmers'  co-operative  society.  .  .  . 

"  In  New  England,  especially  near  Providence, 


92 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


south  Italians  have  been  engaged  in  truck  and  vege- 
table farming  for  many  years.  As  market  gardening 
has  increased  in  importance,  the  Providence  settlement 
has  been  augmented  by  defections  from  the  industrial 
population  in  the  vicinity.  .   .  . 

"  [In  New  York]  the  south  Italian  colony  at  Cana- 
stota  is  typical.  .  .  .  American  owners  were  unwilling 
to  undertake  the  clearing,  hence  the  land  was  purchased 
cheaply;  and  since  an  Italian  raised  his  first  crop  of 
onions  in  1897  the  farm  settlement,  now  called  Onion 
Town,  has  grown  slowly  but  steadily.  Economically 
it  is  significant  that  there  has  been  no  displacement  of 
the  old  agricultural  population;  that  the  Italian  has 
developed  new  land — otherwise  commercially  unpro- 
ductive— and  a  new  agricultural  industry,  and  that  he 
has  found  this  rival  rural  occupation  more  remunera- 
tive than  his  former  employment  on  railroad  or 
canal.  .   .  . 

"  Italian  farming  in  the  South  covers  a  wide  range 
of  products,  widely  diversified  soils  and  climatic  con- 
ditions, several  forms  of  land  tenure,  and  various  sys- 
tems of  culture.  The  north  Italians  among  the  moun- 
tains of  western  North  Carolina  practice  a  self-sufific- 
ing,  diversified  agriculture.  .  .  . 

"  In  the  '  Delta '  both  north  and  south  Italian 
cotton-tenants  are  teaching  the  cotton-growers  how 
valuable  careful  cultivation,  kitchen  gardens  and  small 
store  accounts  may  be  to  the  cotton  *  share  hand.'  In 
the  Ozarks  Italians  from  the  Sunnyside  group  have 
taken  up  new  land,  planted  orchards,  and  become  suc- 
cessful apple  and  peach  growers." 

Russian,  Polish,  Greek,  Italian,  Swiss,  Portuguese 


TENDENCIES 


93 


and  Armenians,  all  have  been  commended  by  repre- 
sentatives of  various  states  as  successful  farmers. 

WAGE  EARNING 

Mr.  W.  Jett  Lauck,  expert  in  charge  of  Industrial 
Investigation  for  the  Immigration  Commission,  writes 
in  The  Survey  of  January  7,  191 1,  "  The  earnings  of 
the  immigrant  industrial  vi^orkers,  as  well  as  of  those 
of  native  birth,  in  present-day  industrial  communities 
are  generally  too  small  to  permit  the  maintenance  of  an 
independent  form  of  family  life. 

"  Of  more  than  22,000  wage-earners  eighteen  years 
of  age  or  over,  who  were  studied  by  the  Immigration 
Commission  in  the  general  investigation  of  immigrants 
in  industries,  the  average  annual  earnings  were  only 
$455;  and  in  the  case  of  many  southern  and  eastern 
European  races  the  average  was  considerably  less. 
These  meager  earnings  in  the  case  of  male  heads  of 
families  were  supplemented  by  taking  boarders  or 
lodgers  into  the  households,  or  by  having  the  children 
go  to  work." 

Can  a  Christian  nation  face  this  record  without 
shame  ? 

No  one  questions  that  the  requirement  of  improved 
steerage  conditions  is  within  the  province  of  govern- 
ment. The  improvement  of  housing  conditions  in  all 
dwellings  which  immigrants  are  to  inhabit  during  a 
much  longer  time  than  during  their  voyage,  would  seem 
to  be  even  more  important. 

Our  government  has  adopted  the  expedient  of  re- 
quiring the  immigrant  to  turn  his  pockets  inside  out 


94 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


and  to  allow  the  inspector  to  learn  whether  the  cash 
in  hand  is  sufficient  to  prevent  the  probability  of  his 
becoming  a  public  charge.  Is  there  any  inherent  im- 
possibility of  the  government's  requiring  the  prospec- 
tive employer  to  open  his  payroll  and  to  show  that  the 
wages  which  he  pays  are  sufficient  to  allow  employes  to 
provide  for  themselves  and  their  families  with  a  rea- 
sonable degree  of  comfort,  to  prevent  the  necessity  for 
child-labor  and  for  such  wage  earning  on  the  part  of 
mothers  as  must  compel  them  to  neglect  the  care  of 
their  children  and  their  homes? 

CRIMINALITY 

Does  the  coming  of  the  new  immigration  add  to 
the  criminality  of  the  New  America  ?  Much  apprehen- 
sion has  been  expressed  on  this  point. 

The  immigrant's  "  offenses  against  public  policy  " 
are  frequently  only  the  result  of  ignorance.  A  peasant 
from  a  rural  district  of  Europe,  unacquainted  with  the 
regulations  of  city  life,  unable  to  read  laws,  pro- 
hibitions or  notices,  or  even  to  understand  the  language 
in  which  verbal  orders  are  given,  may  fail  to  make 
proper  disposition  of  sewage,  garbage  and  ashes. — 
may  undertake  to  peddle  without  a  license,  may  resist 
arrest,  may  fail  to  pay  fines  on  demand,  may  be  unable 
to  secure  counsel  speaking  his  language,  and  so,  quite 
uncomprehending  and  dumb,  may  be  sentenced  to  im- 
prisonment, and  yet  be  no  criminal  in  any  true  sense  of 
the  term. 

In  view  of  all  these  considerations,  the  fact  that 
the  searching  investigations  of  the  great  Federal  Im- 


TENDENCIES 


95 


migration  Commission  resulted  in  the  conclusion  that 
"  immigrants  are  no  more  inclined  toward  criminality, 
on  the  whole,  than  are  native  Americans,"  may  be  con- 
sidered good  testimony  to  the  character  of  those  who 
are  allowed  to  enter  our  gates.  The  testimony  from 
the  same  source  that  "  statistics  do  indicate  that  the 
children  of  immigrants  commit  crime  more  often 
that  the  children  of  natives,"  is  ominous  for  the 
future. 

There  can  be  no  dissent  from  the  verdict  that  "  the 
measure  of  the  national  healthy  development  of  a  coun- 
try is  not  the  extent  of  its  investment  of  capital,  its 
output  of  products,  or  its  exports  or  imports,  unless 
there  is  a  corresponding  economic  opportunity  afforded 
to  the  citizen  depending  upon  employment,  for  his 
natural  mental  and  moral  development."  Whether  the 
belief  in  this  theory  is  so  deep  and  strong  and  abiding 
as  to  result  in  the  requirement  that  employes  shall  be 
given  reasonable  hours  of  work,  and  a  living  wage 
which  may  include  decent  housing  for  themselves  and 
their  families,  without  overwork  on  the  part  of  women 
and  children,  is  a  question  of  vital  import,  not  only 
to  immigrants  but  to  the  nation  that  receives  them. 

JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY 

Four-fifths  of  the  children  brought  into  juvenile 
courts  in  Chicago,  and  about  the  same  proportion  in 
other  large  cities,  are  the  children  of  foreigners.  In 
the  phraseology  of  our  time,  character  is  produced  by 
heredity,  environment  and  will.  In  the  case  of  the 
children  of  foreign-born  parents  in  America,  the  hered- 


96 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


ity,  as  shown  by  the  careful  investigations  of  our 
Immigration  Commission,  is  not  especially  criminal. 

What  of  environment?  Who  creates  the  environ- 
ment? 

First,  the  public  school,  during  from  15  to  30  of  the 
168  hours  of  each  week.  Sunday  schools  and  various 
child- welfare  organizations  claim  perhaps  three  more 
hours  of  the  week.  During  the  rest  of  his  waking  hours 
the  child  spends  his  time  in  the  street,  in  the  alley,  in  the 
back  court,  wherever  he  can  find  most  diversion,  while 
his  parents  and  older  brothers  and  sisters  are  busy 
earning  the  bread  for  the  next  meal.  He  learns  much 
that  escapes  their  weary  eyes. 

They  may  belong  to  the  army  of  illiterates.  Even 
if  they  can  read  their  own  language,  they  may  not  have 
learned  English.  The  child  soon  stands  shoulder  to 
shoulder  with  children  of  his  own  age  in  the  public 
school.  He  salutes  the  flag  with  a  grace  all  his  own 
and  sings,  "  My  country,  'tis  of  thee."  as  lustily  as  anv 
descendant  of  the  author  of  our  national  hymn.  With 
every  sense  quickened  by  contact  with  the  new  environ- 
ment, he  becomes  acutely  conscious  of  the  difference 
between  "  teacher  "  and  his  foreign-looking,  foreign- 
acting,  foreign-speaking  father  and  mother.  His  grow- 
ing conviction  that  "  they  do  not  understand,"  not  only 
the  new  language,  but  also  the  new  life,  leads  to  the 
rejection  of  their  authority  and  influence.  Keenly 
sensitive  to  the  criticisms  of  thoughtless  companions, 
he  ceases  to  use  the  mother-tongue,  and  lives  his  own 
life,  a  law  unto  himself  outside  of  school.  The  juvenile 
court  record  begins  where  parental  influence  ends. 

Is  there  no  other  agency  to  intervene  ? 


TENDENCIES 


97 


AMERICAN  CHURCHES 

In  "  The  Immigration  Problem,"  we  find  this  sig- 
nificant statement,  "  One  of  the  most  striking  features 
of  the  whole  immigration  situation  is  the  almost  entire 
indiflference  of  the  native  churches  to  the  immigrants, 
and  the  general  lack  of  religious  and  welfare  work 
among  them.  .  .  .  The  American  churches  are  pass- 
ing by  a  great  opportunity  for  social  service." 

At  the  present  rate,  this  generation  will  see  the 
coming  of  about  33,000,000  immigrants  to  our  shores. 
About  four-fifths  of  the  new  immigration  speak  some 
other  language  than  English.  They  all  need  English 
for  meeting  the  needs  of  daily  life  and  for  the  main- 
tenance of  helpful  relations  within  their  own  homes  as 
well  as  with  the  communities  in  which  they  live. 

Is  the  task  of  acquainting  them  with  the  English 
language  too  great  to  be  undertaken  by  those  who  be- 
lieve in  the  principles  on  which  our  Christian  civiliza- 
tion is  founded  ?  No  more  patriotic  service,  no  greater 
Christian  service  asks  for  volunteers  to-day. 

Of  the  immigrants  from  countries  in  which  the  Eng- 
lish language  is  not  spoken,  about  four-fifths  come  from 
countries  in  which  the  Bible  is  not  an  open  book.  It 
has  proved  to  be  a  wonderful  inspirer  of  diverse  na- 
tions. It  is  bringing  a  new  day  to  China,  to  India, 
to  Japan. 

Professor  J.  R.  Green,  the  keen-eyed  historian  of 
national  life,  tells  us  in  his  "  Short  History  of  the 
English  People,"  that  "  no  greater  change  ever  passed 
over  a  nation  than  passed  over  England  during  the 
years  which  parted  the  middle  of  the  reign  of  Eliza- 


98 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


beth  from  the  meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament.  Eng- 
land became  the  people  of  a  book,  and  that  book  was 
the  Bible.  .  .  . 

"  As  a  mere  literary  monument,  the  English  version 
of  the  Bible  remains  the  noblest  example  of  the  Eng- 
lish tongue.  .  .  .  But  far  greater  than  its  effect  on 
literature  or  social  phrase  was  the  effect  of  the  Bible 
on  the  character  of  the  people  at  large.  ...  A  new 
conception  of  life  and  of  man  superseded  the  old.  A 
new  moral  and  religious  impulse  spread  through  every 
class." 

Has  our  New  America  any  need  of  "  a  new  moral 
and  religious  impulse  "  ? 

"  That  new  religious  consciousness  which  the  great 
historian  describes  as  coming  into  England  with  the 
coming  of  the  Bible  in  the  common  speech  of  the  people 
was  strongly  dominant  in  those  who  crossed  the  sea  to 
make  the  New  England  and  the  new  nation  on  these 
shores.  To-day  the  old  Pilgrim  stock  is  fading  out 
and  is  being  replaced  by  immigrants  who  never  have 
known  the  experience  which  Professor  Green  so  vividly 
describes.  To  them,  even  as  to  the  people  of  old  Eng- 
land three  hundred  years  ago,  the  teachings  of  the  Bible 
in  the  speech  of  everyday  life  would  '  fall  on  ears  which 
custom  had  not  deadened  to  their  force  and  beauty.' 

"  Protestant  Christians  have  gloried  in  the  independ- 
ence of  church  and  state  in  America.  Have  Ameri- 
can churches  realized  their  consequent  obligation  as 
well  as  privilege,  to  supply  in  the  life  of  the  people  that 
which  the  state  may  fail  to  give?"  * 

At  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  thousands  of 
*The  Biblical  World  for  January,  1913,  page  28. 


TENDENCIES 


99 


men,  women  and  children  enlisted  in  a  crusade,  "  to 
rescue  the  holy  sepulcher  in  the  East  from  the  infidel." 

In  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  millions 
of  men,  women  and  children  have  come  from  the  East 
to  find  a  vague  Something  Better  than  they  have  known. 

If  American  Christians  will  see  and  respond  to  their 
opportunity  for  personal  service  in  giving  of  our  best 
to  those  who  have  come,  the  world  will  be  enriched, 
not  by  the  possession  of  an  empty  tomb,  but  by  the 
inspiration  of  millions  of  Spirit-filled  temples  of  Life. 


V 

ASIATIC  INFLUENCES 


Who  taught  you  tender  Bible  tales 
Of  honey  lands,  of  milk  and  wine? 
Of  happy,  peaceful  Palestine? 
Of  Jordan's  holy  harvest  vales? 
Who  gave  the  patient  Christ?    I  say, 
Who  gave  your  Christian  creed?   Yea,  yea, 
Who  gave  your  very  God  to  you? 
Your  Jew  !    Your  Jew !    Your  hated  Jew ! 
I  Joaquin  Miller, 

in  "  Russia's  Ingratitude." 

Though  East  be  East,  though  West  be  West, 

The  world  they  form  is  one; 
AHke  the  aims  of  human  kind, 
The  goal  when  all  is  done. 

P.  H.  Dodge, 
of  Keiogijiku  University. 


V 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES 

THE  unity  of  the  human  family  is  to  be  found — 
or  not  found — in  North  America.    Ours  is  the 
only  continent  which  in  any  large  way  is  com- 
posed of  all  continents,  excepting  South  America. 

North  America  itself  contributes  the  least.  There  is 
a  slight  native  element  in  the  United  States.  It  is 
larger  in  Canada,  while  in  the  West  Indies  it  was 
exterminated.  But  in  the  six  independent  republics 
between  our  southern  boundary  and  our  Panama  Canal 
zone  it  greatly  predominates.  The  continent  of  Africa 
has  made  a  conspicuous  contribution,  numerically 
larger  than  any  other  except  Europe.  The  materials 
of  our  country  and  our  continent  are  mainly  from  Eu- 
rope. The  contribution  of  Asia  is  little  noticed  as 
such  but  is  most  noteworthy.  Asiatic  elements  are 
much  larger  than  most  people  think.  In  the  year  end- 
ing June  30,  1912,  more  than  twenty-one  thousand 
people  from  Asia  landed  in  the  United  States.  The 
Orient  is  here.  In  the  vast  temple  of  American  life 
which  has  been  rising  without  human  design  the  time 
has  come  for  us  to  observe  its  Orientation.  "  And, 
behold,  the  glory  of  the  God  of  Israel  came  from  the 
way  of  the  East." 

103 


104 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


OUR  BIBLE  AND  OUR  SAVIOUR 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  fundamental  litera- 
ture of  America  is  not  American,  nor  African,  nor 
even  European,  but  Asiatic.  The  English  language, 
the  metaphors  of  common  speech,  the  structural  lines 
of  thought,  the  basic  conceptions  of  American  life,  are 
given  us  through  the  translation  of  sixty-six  booklets 
originating  every  one  of  them  in  Asia. 

Not  only  is  our  fundamental  literature  Asiatic,  but 
so  also  is  our  fundamental  faith.  "  The  father  of  the 
faithful  "  was  a  wandering  Asiatic  sheik.  The  God 
of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  is  our  God.  Not  only 
are  Joseph  and  Moses  and  David  our  heroes,  but  Isaiah 
and  John  and  Paul  are  our  inspiration.  Most  of  all, 
the  supreme  center  of  the  divine  revelation  to  us  is  in 
One  who  was  primarily  not  American,  or  European, 
but  Asiatic.  He  became,  indeed,  the  Son  of  Man — 
man  at  large.  But  he  was  first  of  all  a  Son  of  Asia. 
Out  of  a  long  Asiatic  line  he  sprang.  In  Asia  he  was 
born,  in  Asia  he  was  reared,  in  Asia  he  hungered  and 
thirsted.  There  he  was  filled  with  righteousness. 
There  he  was  tempted  and  overcame.  He  was  never 
outside  of  Asia.  It  was  on  that  continent  that  he 
spake  as  no  man  ever  spake.  There  he  started  man- 
kind on  a  new  course  of  evolution.  On  one  of  the 
hilltops  of  Asia  he  was  crucified,  his  blood  mingling 
with  the  soil  of  Asia  and  fertilizing  it  for  the  highest 
products  of  human  history.  There  are  many  mighty 
streams  of  influence  in  America  to-day,  but  far  and 
away  the  most  potent  of  them  all  are  those  which  have 
come  to  us  out  of  Asia.   Let  no  one  forget  this  when 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES  105 


he  looks  into  the  face  of  a  Jew  or  a  Syrian,  when  he 
thinks  of  a  Chinese  or  a  Japanese  inhabitant  of 
America. 

A  distinguished  editor  said  that  we  could  not  expect 
an  occidental  religion  like  Christianity  to  lay  hold  of 
the  Orientals  who  come  to  us.  Such  an  absurd  state- 
ment shows  to  what  extent  race  prejudice  can  make 
even  a  large-minded,  highly-gifted  student  of  human 
affairs  stone-blind  to  the  best-known  facts  of  history. 
It  is  well  within  the  facts  to  say  that  the  life  of  the 
Pilgrims  on  the  Mayflower  was  not  merely  colored 
but  was  completely  dominated  by  Asiatic  influences. 
That  has  been  true  of  the  best  life  of  America  to  this 
hour. 

RETURN  CURRENTS 

Return  currents  toward  Asia  began  to  flow  in  a 
decided  stream  one  hundred  years  ago,  when  the  cul- 
tured son  of  a  minister  in  old  Plymouth,  Mass., 
Adoniram  Judson,  went  with  a  choice  group  of  young 
Americans  to  take  the  faith  of  the  Orient  back  to  its 
own  continent.  The  stream  of  American  influence  has 
deepened  and  widened.  Half  a  century  ago  Commo- 
dore Perry  opened  Japan  to  the  world.  Secretary  Hay 
and  men  of  his  type  have  shown  China  that  we  seek 
its  integrity  and  welfare.  To-day  more  than  five  thou- 
sand of  the  finest  American  men  and  women  are  liv- 
ing in  Asia  for  its  good,  and  our  flag  is  floating  over 
sixteen  hundred  islands  of  Asia.  The  American  con- 
science is  so  alive  to  its  obligations  that  we  are  obliged 
at  least  to  allege  that  we  are  in  the  Philippines  for  the 
uplift  of  the  Filipinos.    We  are  now  avowedly  "  a 


106  THE  NEW  AMERICA 


world  power "  with  no  expectation  of  diminishing 
influence  in  Asia.  The  relationships  are  mutual. 
Forces  inflow  as  well  as  outflow.  We  must  not  exult 
in  influencing  Asia  without  expecting  Asia  to  influ- 
ence us. 

HEBREWS 

Consider  Western  Asia  first.  Although  they  have 
come  through  Europe  the  Jews  are  Asiatic.  Probably 
the  same  may  be  said  of  all  Europeans,  if  we  go  back 
far  enough  in  ancestry.  With  many  of  the  peoples 
coming  to  us  from  Southeastern  Europe  their  Asiatic 
origin  is  not  remote.  That  is  one  reason,  perhaps,  why 
this  new  contingent  among  us  brings  new  problems. 
But  the  Jews  are  Asiatic  not  only  in  origin  but  also  in 
the  language  which  every  Jewish  boy  learns  to  read  and 
write,  in  the  regulation  of  their  daily  food,  in  a  large 
part  of  the  customs  which  dominate  their  lives,  both 
physical  and  mental.  They  have  persistently  kept 
themselves  a  distinct  and  a  distinguished  Asiatic  race 
in  spite  of  the  massive  and  cruel  forces  which  would 
have  submerged  or  at  least  merged  any  occidental 
breed  of  humanity.  We  have  in  the  United  States 
more  than  one  million  eight  hundred  thousand  of  these 
thoroughbred  Asiatics.  Nine  hundred  thousand  have 
come  in  the  last  ten  years.  They  are  marked  factors 
in  the  commercial  life  of  every  city  and  town.  In  the 
metropolis  of  America  they  are  one-fifth  of  the  popula- 
tion. One-half  of  the  Jews  of  the  country  live  within 
the  horizon  of  the  Metropolitan  tower.  They  are  fore- 
most in  philanthropy  as  well  as  in  many  lines  of  busi- 
ness.   They  take  a  large  and  high  place  in  great  uni- 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES  107 


versities.  One  of  them  was  recently  a  candidate  for 
governor  of  the  Empire  State  and  had  in  his  following 
many  of  the  most  thoughtful  citizens  of  every  race  and 
creed. 

These  Asiatics  in  America  are  avowedly  not  Chris- 
tians. They  are  to  be  a  decided  factor  in  the  future 
of  the  country.  Who  can  measure  the  variety,  the 
complexity  and  the  immensity  of  our  obligations  to 
these  kinsmen  of  Mendelssohn  and  Disraeli,  yea,  of 
Moses  and  of  Jesus  Christ? 

SYRIANS 

In  this  connection,  turning  to  the  peoples  coming 
directly  from  Asia  to  America,  it  is  natural  to  think 
first  of  the  Syrians.  They  are  of  the  same  Semitic 
stock  as  the  Israelites  and  of  a  near  branch  of  that 
stock.  Their  country  is  next  to  the  Holy  Land  itself, 
almost  a  part  of  it.  A  Semitic  emigrant  of  old  who 
passed  through  their  country  "  went  out,  not  knowing 
whither  he  went."  That  has  been  true  of  not  a  few 
who  have  come  to  this  country.  On  the  slopes  of 
Syrian  Lebanon  the  writer  was  told  of  some  neighbors 
who  were  overheard  discussing  at  what  point  in 
America  they  had  better  land,  should  it  be  Chicago 
or  Brazil.  Thousands  have  found  their  way  to  the 
United  States.  The  first  village  to  send  many  was 
Zaleh,  on  the  summit  of  the  pass  over  the  Lebanon 
range  between  Damascus  and  Beirut.  They  began  to 
come  in  the  eighties.  So  many  are  here  now  that  they 
are  sending  back  to  Zaleh  $500  a  day,  it  is  said.  The 


108  THE  NEW  AMERICA 

inhabitants  of  that  place  may  well  have  their  own 
interpretation  of  the  verse, 

"  There  shall  be  abundance  of  grain  in  the  earth  upon  the  top 
of  the  mountains ; 
The  fruit  thereof  shall  shake  like  Lebanon : 
And  they  of  the  city  shall  flourish  like  grass  of  the  earth." 

From  all  Syria  they  are  coming  at  the  rate  of  over 
five  thousand  a  year.  About  one  thousand  a  year 
go  back  to  Syria.  In  spite  of  all  who  have  returned 
during  the  last  thirty  years,  some  seventy  thousand 
Syrians  are  now  in  the  United  States,  according  to 
conservative  estimate ;  many  say  one  hundred  thousand. 

ARMENIANS 

The  other  leading  people  in  America  from  Western 
Asia  are  the  Armenians.  They,  too,  had  knowledge 
of  the  Oriental  Saviour  firsthand,  or  nearly  so.  Tradi- 
tion claims  a  letter  to  their  king  from  Jesus  himself. 
They  were  possessed  of  literature  and  culture  when  the 
Angles  and  Saxons  were  untutored  barbarians.  Ar- 
menians have  been  coming  to  our  country  for  many 
years.  During  the  last  five  years  twenty  thousand 
have  come.  They  have  been  driven  by  the  "  Armen- 
ian atrocities  "of  the  Turks  and  have  been  drawn  by 
our  liberties  as  well  as  by  our  opportunities.  Estimates 
of  the  number  in  this  country  now  range  from  fifty 
to  one  hundred  fifty  thousand.  Their  percentage  of 
illiteracy  is  less  than  half  that  reported  by  the  Syrians, 
and  the  percentage  procuring  naturalization  more  than 
twice  as  great. 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES  109 


TURKS 

While  Syrians  and  Armenians  are  the  two  peoples 
coming  from  Western  Asia  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
have  separate  mention  in  the  immigration  tables  of 
the  government,  two  thousand  came  in  1911-12  from 
other  portions  of  Turkey  in  Asia.  Some  of  these  are 
Asiatic  Greeks,  but  many  of  them  are  true  Asiatics,  in- 
cluding hundreds  of  actual  Turks.  In  fact  the  latter, 
even  though  they  come  from  Turkey  in  Europe,  belong 
to  the  group  which  we  are  now  considering.  In  the 
five  years  from  1907  to  19 12,  six  thousand  four  hun- 
dred Turks  have  come  to  this  country.  They  belong 
to  the  Mongolian  division  of  the  human  race  and  so 
carry  our  thought  naturally  toward  their  cousins  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Asiatic  continent. 

CHINESE 

Under  Genghis  Khan  and  his  successors,  for  a  whole 
century,  eastern  and  western  Mongols  were  united  in 
one  government.  In  the  last  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century  there  was  free  intercourse  between  the  Far 
East  and  Europe.  In  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  since,  eastern  Mongolians  have  been  com- 
ing to  America.  Our  present  study  is  not  concerned 
with  the  desirability  of  this  but  with  the  fact  and  its 
possible  issues  in  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  on  earth.  In  1853,  twenty  thousand  Chinese  hav- 
ing come  the  previous  year,  a  great  meeting  of  San 
Francisco's  representative  citizens  was  held,  and  the 
following  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted : 


110 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


"  Resolved :  That  we  regard  with  pleasure  the  pres- 
ence of  great  numbers  of  these  people  among  us,  as 
affording  the  best  opportunity  of  doing  them  good, 
and  through  them  of  exerting  our  influence  upon  their 
native  land." 

Although  their  welcome  was  soon  reversed  and  the 
stream  of  Oriental  immigrants  was  largely  turned  back 
after  a  time,  there  were  still  70,944  Chinese  in  the 
United  States  according  to  the  census  of  1910.  That 
year  1,449  landed  here  from  China.  In  191 1  it  was 
1,307;  in  1912,  1,765.  They  are  scattered  through  the 
whole  country.  There  are  half  as  many  in  New  York 
as  in  San  Francisco.  There  is  hardly  a  town  of  any 
size  without  some  of  them. 

JAPANESE 

Since  the  discouragement  of  Chinese  immigration, 
the  Japanese  have  been  coming  in  larger  numbers,  al- 
though their  coming  is  carefully  limited  by  the  govern- 
ment of  Japan.  In  1910,  3,759;  in  1911,  4.575;  in 
1912,  6,114  Japanese  arrived.  The  census  of  1910 
enumerated  71,722  in  continental  United  States.  The 
Japanese  Association  of  America  reports  for  1912  the 
presence  of  93,751 — 72,394  men,  12,285  women  and 
9,072  children.  There  are  about  16,000  in  the  New 
York  consular  district. 

It  is  believed  by  those  in  the  best  position  to  know 
that  there  are  about  500  Koreans  and  about  5,500 
Filipinos  in  the  country. 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES  111 


EAST  INDIANS 

Recently  a  new  contingent  has  appeared  from  south- 
ern Asia.  In  the  last  three  years,  2,325  came  from 
the  East  Indies.  There  are  said  to  be  some  5,000  in 
the  United  States,  some  forty-three  hundred  of  them 
being  Hindus  and  the  rest  Mohammedans.  Their  il- 
literacy exceeds  that  of  any  other  people  coming  to  us. 

OCCUPATIONS 

While  most  of  the  Asiatics  in  our  country  are  en- 
gaged in  industrial  pursuits  of  the  simplest  kind,  con- 
siderable numbers  have  become  landowners.  In  some 
sections  the  Japanese  are  taking  possession  of  the  agri- 
cultural industries.  In  1909,  as  laborers,  they  did  prac- 
tically all  the  hand  work  in  raising  berries,  a  large  part 
of  that  in  sugar-beet  fields,  and  one-half  of  the  work 
in  the  vineyards  of  California.  Moreover,  they  owned 
16,449^  acres  of  land  and  leased  137,23354  acres 
more.  In  Washington,  Idaho  and  Colorado,  they  con- 
trolled 34,072  acres.  In  all  the  great  cities.  East  as 
well  as  West,  there  are  Chinese  and  Japanese  mer- 
chants. 

Altogether,  there  are  well  toward  three  hundred 
thousand  Asiatics  in  the  United  States  at  the  present 
time;  in  other  words,  about  the  same  number  as  of  the 
aboriginal  Americans.  This  is  in  continental  United 
States,  to  which  the  present  study  is  confined.  Under 
the  flag  in  the  Philippines  are  many  thousands  more, 
and  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  they  threaten  to  pre- 
dominate. 


112 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


"  EAST  IS  EAST  " 

There  are  great  differences  between  our  Asiatic  and 
European  immigrants  which  need  to  be  kept  in  mind. 
Foremost  is  the  difference  in  race  relationship. 
Nearly  all  the  emigrants  from  Europe  are  more  closely 
akin  to  us  than  most  of  those  from  Asia.  Even  the 
Slavic  races  are  a  part  of  the  great  Ayran  family  to 
which  we  belong.  With  the  exception  of  the  Armen- 
ians and  Hindus  who  have  come  here  lately,  the 
Asiatics  are  from  an  entirely  different  branch  of  the 
human  race.  Race  feelings  are  among  the  deepest  in 
human  nature.  If  we  find  it  difficult  to  count  the  new- 
comers from  southeastern  Europe  as  our  brothers  how 
much  more  difficult  to  count  so  those  who  come  from 
southeastern  Asia? 

Connected  with  this  profound  racial  difference  is  a 
great  difference  in  tendency  to  assimilate.  Japanese 
of  the  second  generation  in  considerable  numbers  show 
power  to  become  genuine  Americans,  but  in  the  main 
Asiatic  immigrants  are  always  aliens. 

A  third  difference  of  great  significance  is  in  the  mat- 
ter of  permanency  among  us.  Year  by  year  about  one- 
third  as  many  Europeans  go  back  as  come  to  this 
country.  Many  of  them,  however,  are  returning  to 
Europe  for  only  a  visit.  The  vast  majority  of  those 
who  come  from  Europe  expect  to  make  our  country 
their  home.  On  the  other  hand  a  large  part  of  those 
who  come  from  Asia  come  for  only  a  temporary  stay. 

The  fourth  difference,  closely  connected  with  these 
others,  is  in  the  interchange  of  ideas  back  and  forth. 
The  great  bulk  of  Europeans  who  come  to  us  for 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES  113 


permanent  residence  infuse  new  color  into  American 
thought  and  feehng,  and  quickly  receive  themselves 
new  color,  often  to  the  extent  of  an  almost  complete 
transformation.  These  transfusions  of  life  take  place 
far  less  with  the  Asiatics  among  us.  Owing  to  all 
these  differences  there  is  extremely  little  actual  inter- 
blending  of  the  Asiatics  with  other  Americans.  There 
has  been  among  Asiatics  and  Americans  only  the 
slightest  tendency  to  the  miscegenation  which  has  been 
so  marked  in  the  relation  of  Africans  and  Ameri- 
cans. 

Except  the  Jews  and  the  few  Mohammedans,  the 
Europeans  who  come  to  us  are  Christian  in  name  and 
tradition.  Both  of  these  are,  in  fact,  Asiatics  and 
both  of  them  are  monotheists,  believers  in  the  God  of 
Abraham.  Most  of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Jews  are 
the  same  as  ours.  The  Asiatics,  on  the  other  hand, 
who  come  to  us  from  the  Far  East  are  polytheists  and 
have  inherited  no  knowledge  of  Christ  or  even  of  the 
one  God  of  the  Bible  and  the  Koran.  But  in  spite  of  all 
these  differences  the  interflow  of  Asiatic  and  American 
life  is  very  considerable. 

ASIATIC  INFLUENCE  ON  US 

Note,  first,  the  influence  of  our  Asiatic  visitors  on 
us.  It  manifests  itself  in  various  directions.  In  indus- 
trial affairs,  labor  questions  of  the  Pacific  Coast  have 
been  deeply  and  violently  complicated  by  the  Oriental 
immigrants.  The  political  life  of  whole  states  and,  to 
some  extent,  of  the  nation,  has  been  shaken  by  the  pres- 
ence of  these  men  from  Asia,  and  still  more,  perhaps, 


114 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


by  the  fear  of  their  presence.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  say  how  much  the  moral  life  of  the  country  is 
aflfected  by  the  Orientals.  It  is  believed  by  those  who 
are  most  fearful  about  them  on  the  Pacific  Coast  that 
they  introduce  vices  which  are  characteristic  of  their 
low  standards  of  morality,  and  which  draw  not  a  few 
Occidentals  into  their  vile  currents.  The  "  white  slave 
traffic  "  is  a  somewhat  metaphorical  phrase,  but  the 
yellow  slave  traffic  has  been  literal.  It  has  been  con- 
ducted on  a  large  scale  and  with  written  bills  of  sale. 
The  opium  trade  has  been  immense,  but  like  the  slave 
trade,  it  has  been  mostly  to  gratify  the  Chinese  them- 
selves. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  their  influence  on  us  in 
religious  matters  would  be  a  negligible  quantity.  On 
the  contrary,  there  are  conspicuous  embodiments  of 
Asiatic  missionary  activity  at  points  all  the  way  from 
the  Point  Loma  sanctum  in  southern  California  to  the 
Green  Acre  School  in  Maine.* 

OUR  INFLUENCE  ON  ASIA 

Turn  now  from  Asia's  influence  on  us  to  consider 
our  influence  on  Asia,  through  the  immigrants  from 
that  continent.  It  is  exerted,  first  of  all,  by  our  life. 
What  we  are  counts  for  most.  They  return  to  tell 
of  the  prosperity  of  the  country  and  what  they  have 
learned  of  its  institutions  and  of  the  real  character  of 
the  people.  The  Christian  kindness  which  some  of 
them  have  met  here  in  the  strange  and  largely  hostile 

*For  discussion  of  "Non-Christian  Faiths  in  America"  see 
"  Conservation  of  National  Ideals."    Fleming  H.  Revell  Co, 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES 


115 


country  is  keenly  appreciated.  That  is  what  tells  most. 
The  offset  of  this  is  the  unkind  treatment  endured  in 
America.  In  addition  to  that  they  observe  the  wide- 
spread evils  here. 

Vast  numbers  in  Asia  know  something  of  the  actual 
character  of  America,  which  poses  as  a  Christian  na- 
tion. Their  judgment  of  it  is  a  real  day  of  judgment 
for  us.  If  the  family  life,  the  educational  life  and  the 
political  life  of  America  were  completely  Christian,  and 
the  industrial  life  could  be  Christianized,  our  testimony 
to  Asia  would  be  irresistible.  In  these  days  of  world- 
wide intercourse,  if  even  one  commonwealth  in  the 
United  States  were  to  become  absolutely  Christian  the 
continent  of  Asia  would  not  long  resist  the  argument 
and  would  be  clamoring  for  teachers  from  that  common- 
wealth. If  a  single  city,  San  Francisco,  New  York, 
or  any  other,  were  to  become  entirely  the  city  of  God, 
it  would  do  more  to  bring  Asia  to  the  feet  of  Christ 
than  could  be  done  by  sending  to  Asia  every  preacher 
in  the  United  States.  We  must  act  in  the  light  of  this 
indisputable  fact  while  at  the  same  time  we  act  in  the 
light  of  another  law  of  nature  which  scatters  seeds 
broadcast.  Jesus  sent  the  apostles  into  all  the  world 
while  the  Promised  Land  itself  was  yet  reeking  with 
wrong. 

But  our  influence  on  Asia  through  the  Asiatics  among 
us  is  exerted  by  our  teaching  as  well  as  by  our  life. 
We  must  tell  them  the  good  news  of  our  Oriental 
Saviour,  the  supreme  inspiration  to  right  living.  The 
immigrants  from  western  Asia  are  commonly  con- 
sidered in  connection  with  those  from  Europe,  and  so 
need  not  be  reconsidered  here. 


116 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


MISSIONS  AMONG  AMERICAN  ORIENTALS  * 

By  Local  Churches. — The  evangelizing  activities 
among  immigrants  from  Eastern  Asia  are  conducted 
in  three  ways.  First,  by  local  churches.  There  are  no 
statistics  to  show  how  many  Sunday  schools  or  Bible 
classes  there  are  for  Orientals.  It  was  stated  a  few 
years  ago  that  in  seventy  cities  there  were  seventy-five 
Sunday  schools  for  the  Chinese,  with  an  attendance 
of  2,500.  There  are  more  than  twenty  schools  in  New 
York  City  and  immediate  vicinity.  In  New  England 
there  is  an  association  of  Chinese  Sunday-school  work- 
ers connected  with  forty-two  schools.  Hundreds  of 
Chinese  have  been  brought  to  Christ  through  the 
Chinese  Sunday  schools  in  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. The  writer  has  had  the  privilege  of  seeing  in  his 
own  pastoral  experience  in  western  Pennsylvania  and  in 
central  Massachusetts  numbers  of  Orientals  studying 
the  Bible  and  dozens  of  them  giving  their  hearts  to 
Christ.  Some  of  these  men,  like  Lee  You  in  Pittsburg, 
have  shown  by  many  years  of  unswerving  loyalty  to 
Christ  and  His  Church  that  their  faith  is  genuine.  The 
majority  have  returned  to  China. 

The  scattered  work  of  local  churches  makes  no  show- 
ing in  statistical  tables.  One  of  the  denominations 
doing  the  largest  amount  of  work  among  them  (Pres- 
byterian) has  recorded  the  number  of  Chinese  com- 
municants in  distinctively  Chinese  churches  and  in 
American  churches,  showing  almost  as  many  in  the 

♦  On  this  and  other  topics  in  the  present  chapter  see  the  mono- 
graph "The  Oriental  in  America"  by  Geo.  Warren  Hinman. 
New  York,  Missionary  Education  Movement,  1913.    5  cts. 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES 


117 


latter  as  in  the  former.  If  this  hold,  as  there  is  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  it  does,  in  other  denominations, 
nearly  as  much  in  the  way  of  conversion  is  being  ac- 
complished in  this  way  as  in  the  separate  missions. 

By  Denominations. — Next  comes  the  work  con- 
ducted by  denominational  missions.  It  was  begun  in 
1852  by  the  Presbyterians  in  San  Francisco.  Baptists 
began  there  in  1854,  Methodists  in  1868,  Congrega- 
tionalists  in  1870.  There  is  a  Chinese  Methodist  mis- 
sion in  New  York  City  and  a  Chinese  Presbyterian 
Church.  Both  New  York  and  Philadelphia  have 
Chinese  Baptist  churches.  The  first  organized  work 
for  Japanese  was  in  1877.  Most  of  the  work  for  that 
nationality  has  been  done  since  1900.  In  addition  to 
meetings  for  worship  and  preaching,  and  Sunday 
schools,  evening  schools  have  been  opened,  boarding 
schools  established  and  rescue  homes  and  Christian 
boarding  homes  have  been  erected. 

The  open  doorway  through  which  the  majority  have 
come  into  connection  with  the  missions  of  both  kinds 
has  been  the  need  of  learning  the  English  language. 
The  Bible  and  extracts  from  it  have  been  used  as  teach- 
ing material.* 

The  total  number  of  Oriental  members  in  the  Ameri- 
can churches  and  the  foreign-speaking  churches  at  pres- 
ent is  estimated  as  follows:  Chinese,  2,000;  Japanese, 
2,600;  Koreans,  400.  A  majority  of  the  Koreans  be- 
come Christians  in  Korea  before  coming  to  America. 
It  is  believed  that  nearly  ten  thousand  Chinese  and 

*Some  of  this  material  has  now  been  put  into  pedagogical  form 
in  "Early  Stories  and  Songs  for  New  Students  of  English"  by 
Mary  Clark  Barnes.   Fleming  H.  Revell  Co. 


118 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


Japanese  have  been  baptized  in  America.  There  are 
now  about  seventy-five  organized  missions  for  Chinese 
and  the  same  number  for  Japanese.  Twenty  of  the 
former  and  four  of  the  latter  are  in  Eastern  parts  of 
the  country. 

By  Interdenominational  Agencies. — The  third  way 
of  seeking  to  Christianize  Asiatics  is  through  inter- 
denominational agencies.  The  Chinese  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  at  first  was  modeled  to  a 
considerable  extent  after  the  well-known  Y.M.C.A. 
It  began  as  an  interdenominational  work.  It  has 
developed,  however,  into  a  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation under  the  care  and  conduct  of  the  various 
denominations.  The  American  Bible  Society  has  done 
some  excellent  work  among  Orientals  in  America. 
There  is  a  joint  work  among  the  Japanese,  the  Dendo 
Dan,  which  is  moving  along  hopeful  lines. 

The  organ  of  interdenominational  action  which  is 
of  the  greatest  promise  is  the  "  Standing  Committee  of 
American  Workers  among  Orientals  on  the  Pacific 
Coast."  In  1912  the  Home  Missions  Council  requested 
this  Committee  to  prepare  a  plan  by  which  the  work  for 
Orientals  can  be  allotted  among  the  denominations  so 
as  to  secure  its  more  adequate  accomplishment.  The 
Committee  has  done  this  with  great  care.  On  the  north 
Pacific  coast  also  there  was  organized  at  Seattle  ( 1912) 
a  "  Council  of  Oriental-American  Christian  Workers." 
An  adequate  interdenominational  building  is  proposed 
and  other  closely  co-operative  undertakings. 

Hitherto  the  needs  have  been  largely  unmet.  In 
the  Consultations  of  the  deputation  from  the  Home 
Missions  Council  during  the  winter  of  1911-12,  one 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES  119 


missionary  administrator  with  years  of  experience  in 
China  and  then  other  years  of  experience  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  affirmed  that  not  more  than  one  Chinaman  in  ten 
in  the  coast  state  where  he  Hves  had  had  the  Gospel 
brought  to  him  in  any  adequate  way.  The  deputation 
was  informed  in  another  coast  state  that  there  are  in 
that  state  twenty-seven  counties,  with  an  average  of  two 
hundred  Chinamen  in  each,  without  any  Christian  work 
of  any  kind  for  these  Asiatics.  In  November,  1912,  the 
Standing  Committee  above  mentioned  declared  that 
"  by  recent  surveys  some  fourteen  thousand  Chinese 
and  about  the  same  number  of  Japanese  are  found  to 
be  without  any  Christian  opportunities.  Among  the 
Hindus  there  are  about  four  thousand." 

Would  the  Orientals  among  us  respond  to  missionary 
endeavor  in  encouraging  numbers  if  adequate  effort 
were  made?  The  city  of  San  Francisco  is  perhaps  the 
best  provided  of  any  place  with  missions  to  them. 
Even  in  that  city  there  is  only  one  mission  to  each 
nine  hundred  and  fifty  Chinese.  Yet  they  have  turned 
to  Christ  in  such  numbers  that  they  are  communicants  in 
evangelical  churches  to  a  larger  extent,  in  proportion 
to  numbers,  than  the  white  people  of  that  city. 

Do  American  Christians  really  long  for  the  conver- 
sion of  Orientals,  or  is  the  interest  only  imaginary 
while  the  thought  is  a  glimmering  mirage  on  the  dis- 
tant horizon?  Inside  our  own  gate  more  than  thirty 
thousand  flesh  and  blood  heathens  for  whom  we  are 
doing  nothing !  Thousands  more  for  whom  we  are  do- 
ing but  little!  That  little,  however,  counts.  Owing 
to  the  public  spirit  of  the  Morning  Star  Missionary 
in  New  York,  in  helping  the  large  Chinese  community 


120 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


to  secure  and  forward  famine  funds  and  in  other 
ways,  he  and  his  brother  missionary  have  been 
made  associate  members  of  the  Chinese  Merchants' 
Association  which  meets  every  week,  with  a  voice  on 
its  floor.  One  result  is  that  the  joss  house  connected 
with  the  rooms  of  the  Merchants'  Association  has  been 
closed. 

REFLEX  INFLUENCE  ON  ASIA 

The  most  striking  aspect  of  the  influence  of  Asiatics 
in  connection  with  the  New  America  is  the  reflex  influ- 
ence on  Asia.  It  is  known  that  Chinese  Christians  in 
America  have  sent  back  for  Christian  work  in  China 
at  least  fifty  thousand  dollars.  If  the  unreported  sums 
be  considered,  and  the  gifts  of  the  Japanese  as  well, 
it  is  probable  that  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  would 
be  a  moderate  estimate.  But  the  main  thing  is  that 
they  have  gone  back  themselves,  the  majority  of  them 
to  stay,  nearly  all  of  them  for  at  least  a  long  visit. 
More  than  five  thousand  returned  in  1912.  That  is 
more  in  one  year  than  the  entire  number  of  American 
missionaries  in  those  countries.  This  has  been  going 
on  for  years,  during  some  periods  in  far  greater  num- 
bers than  now. 

On  Government. — It  is  more  than  a  coincidence  that 
the  portion  of  China  that  has  been  the  fountain  of  demo- 
cratic influences  which  have  at  last  captured  the  Chinese 
government,  is  the  region  from  which  most  of  the 
Chinese  have  come  to  America  and  to  which  they  have 
returned  with  some  knowledge  of  American  institu- 
tions. While  laborers  have  come  almost  entirely  from 
southeastern  China,  students  have  come  also  from  other 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES  121 


sections.  Chinese  students  in  America  in  their  petition  to 
President  Taft  pleading  for  the  recognition  of  the  Re- 
pubHc  of  China  by  the  United  States  said,  "  In  effecting 
this  remarkable  transition  of  China  from  a  corrupt  mon- 
archy to  a  sound  republic,  many  of  the  most  prominent 
leaders  have  been  guided  by  the  practical  knowledge 
and  experience  of  the  blessings  of  free  government 
which  the  hospitality  and  generosity  of  this  land  of 
liberty  have  enabled  them,  in  their  student  days,  to 
acquire  within  the  precincts  of  its  institutions  of  learn- 
ing; and  all  of  them  have  been  inspired  by  the  luminous 
example  of  the  happy  republic  of  the  United  States. 
For  this  immeasurable  service  which  the  people  of  the 
United  States  have  rendered  to  the  cause  of  republican 
China,  we  avail  ourselves  of  this  opportunity  to  own 
our  debt  of  gratitude."  Said  a  student  in  Chen  Tung 
University,  Western  China,  to  his  American  teacher, 
referring  to  America  as  a  whole,  "  What  you  are  we 
want  to  become." 

On  Missionary  Work. — Chinese  brought  to  Christ  in 
America  have  exerted  a  decisive  influence  in  evan- 
gelizing China.  Rev.  Dr.  Noyes,  a  missionary  for  a 
third  of  a  century  in  China,  said,  "  Nearly  all  the 
Chinese  [laborers]  in  the  United  States  come  from 
four  districts  in  the  Canton  province.  Twenty-five 
years  ago  there  was  not  a  Christian  chapel  or  school 
in  all  that  region.  Now  there  are  few  places  in  these 
districts  where  there  is  not  a  mission  chapel  within  a 
distance  the  Chinese  can  easily  walk.  Of  these  chapels 
we  have  six  [now  more].  Every  one  of  these  sites 
was  obtained  by  the  help  of  Christians  who  had  re- 
turned from  California.   Of  the  thirteen  native  assist- 


122 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


ants  who  have  labored  at  these  stations,  six  were  con- 
verted in  CaHfornia,  one  in  Australia  and  one  received 
his  first  serious  impressions  from  a  member  of  the 
Chinese  Church  in  California  on  the  steamer  crossing 
the  Pacific."  Not  long  ago  a  Chinese  pastor  in  New 
York  City  for  thirteen  years  said  that  when  he  was  in 
China  recently  he  was  in  a  meeting  where  fifty  Chinese 
preachers  of  the  Gospel  were  gathered,  and  on  taking 
an  expression  it  was  found  that  twenty-five  of  them 
were  converted  in  the  United  States. 

A  Japanese  inhabitant  of  the  United  States  having 
become  an  earnest  Christian  felt  that  he  must  carry 
back  the  news  to  Japan,  and  help  bring  that  nation  to 
Christ.  After  a  few  months  he  returned  to  America. 
The  present  writer  visited  him  just  as  he  was  in  the 
act  of  unpacking  his  trunk,  and  asked  him  why  he  had 
returned  to  this  country.  He  said  that  soon  after 
reaching  Japan  he  received  a  letter  from  an  old  ac- 
quaintance living  in  one  of  the  country  towns  of  the 
Empire,  who  asked  him  to  come  up  there  and  help  to 
discredit  and  drive  out  two  American  women  who  were 
teaching  the  villagers  that  in  America  there  is  a  Jesus 
religion  which  people  throughout  the  world  ought  to 
accept.  His  acquaintance  said,  "  I  told  the  people  that 
I  lived  in  America  for  years  and  never  heard  of  a  Jesus 
religion.  You  are  just  back  from  that  country.  If 
you  will  come  up  here  and  confirm  my  statement  we 
can  drive  these  fake  religionists  out  of  the  town."  My 
friend  said  that  he  concluded  that  he  could  do  most 
for  Japan  by  returning  to  America  and  doing  every- 
thing in  his  power  to  make  it  impossible  for  Japanese 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES  123 


to  live  for  years  in  this  country  without  learning  of 
the  Jesus  religion. 

On  the  Educated  Classes. — When  we  turn  to  the 
student  class,  we  look  upon  forces  of  unmeasured  po- 
tentiality for  the  regeneration  of  Asia.  Nemoro 
Utsurikawa  in  Education,  November,  19 12,  mentions 
by  name  more  than  thirty  former  Japanese  students  in 
America  who  have  since  rendered  distinguished  serv- 
ice in  Japan,  and  says  that  in  191 1  there  were  in  the 
United  States  869  Japanese  students. 

The  Chinese  students,  in  petitioning  President  Taft, 
said  that  they  represented  900  Chinese  students  then 
in  America.  The  Chinese  government  is  sending  here 
about  one  hundred  more  students  each  year,  giving 
them  an  allowance  of  eight  hundred  dollars  a  year. 
They  are  generally  to  remain  here  seven  years.  Ac- 
cording to  an  old  theory  of  physiology  that  is  long 
enough  to  secure  an  entire  transformation  of  their 
bodies,  so  that  when  they  return  every  ounce  of  their 
substance  will  be  American.  However  that  may  be, 
they  are  here  on  purpose  to  imbibe  American  ideas  and 
ideals  for  the  sake  of  regenerating  China.  In  the 
revolutionary  Chinese  government  the  First  Assistant 
Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  was  the  earnest  Christian, 
Wang,  educated  in  the  United  States  by  the  wise  gen- 
erosity of  two  Baptist  laymen  of  Lansing,  Mich.  Fei, 
the  private  secretary  of  Dr.  Sun  Yat  Sen,  was  educated 
here  by  a  Boston  layman. 

What  would  be  the  effect  if  the  evangelical  churches 
were  to  begin  at  once  to  put  sufficient  endeavor  into 
the  work  for  Asiatics  now  living  in  the  United  States 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


to  win  the  majority  of  them  to  the  Christian  faith? 
It  would  simply  mean  that  something  like  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand  ambassadors  of  Christ  in 
the  next  few  years  would  go  from  our  shores  to  the  Far 
East.  They  would  go  with  the  language  and  habits  of 
the  people  to  whom  they  go,  their  own  to  start  with. 
This  would  be  far  and  away  the  most  inexpensive  and 
at  the  same  time  the  most  effective  method  of  inserting 
the  Gospel  leaven  into  the  Asiatic  lump. 


DR.   SUN  YAT  SEN 

The  most  striking  instance  of  interdenominational 
and  intercontinental  influence  is  in  the  case  of  the  lead- 
ing factor  in  the  recent  revolution  in  China,  Dr.  Sun 
Yat  Sen.  This  man,  who  traveled  largely  on  foot  some 
ten  thousand  miles  throughout  China,  gathering  and 
indoctrinating  groups  of  patriots  with  republican  senti- 
ment, is  the  son  of  a  man  brought  to  Christ  through  an 
English  Church  medical  mission.  He  himself  learned 
the  Christian  way  more  perfectly  through  Congrega- 
tional workers  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Though  he 
was  a  medical  student,  not  a  student  for  the  ministry,  a 
Chinese  merchant  in  New  York  who  knew  Dr.  Sun 
intimately  when  he  was  in  school  says  that  it  was  the 
habit  of  the  young  man,  when  Sunday  came,  to  go 
somewhere  and  conduct  a  gospel  service.  When  he 
was  in  the  United  States,  after  a  reward  of  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  had  been  placed  on  his  head  by  the  Chinese 
government,  he  was  protected  for  many  weeks  in  the 
Baptist  Chinese  mission  in  New  York  City.  Remem- 


ASIATIC  INFLUENCES  125 

bering  the  readiness  with  which  Chinese  assassins,  for 
a  comparatively  small  consideration,  take  human  life, 
his  peril  can  well  be  conceived.  Wherever  he  went 
upon  the  street  two  men  workers  went  with  him,  one 
on  each  side.  Because  peril  lurked  in  darkness,  as  well 
as  in  daylight,  they  slept  one  on  either  side  of  him  at 
night.  It  is  not  surprising  to  be  told  that  his  Christian 
life  deepened  and  quickened  in  this  sacred  and  almost 
tragic  fellowship.  When  he  returned  to  America,  years 
afterward,  a  distinguished  reformer,  many  homes  and 
places  of  entertainment  were  opened  for  him,  but  the 
New  York  dailies  said  that  Sun  Yat  Sen  was  most 
sure  to  be  found  at  the  Morning  Star  Mission. 

THE  CHALLENGE  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

During  the  last  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Kubla 
Khan  with  his  capital  at  Pekin  ruled  over  the  most  ex- 
tensive empire  ever  seen  on  earth.  He  was  not  only 
the  most  extensive  but  also  one  of  the  most  broad- 
minded  and  progressive  of  the  earth's  rulers.  He 
begged  the  Pope  of  Rome  to  send  him  one  hundred 
missionaries.  New  popes  were  passing  just  then  in 
rapid  succession.  If  they  had  done  as  requested,  in- 
stead of  spending  their  energies  in  ecclesiastical  quib- 
bles and  quarrels,  and  sent  one  hundred  true-hearted 
men  to  the  Far  East,  China  might  have  been  a  Chris- 
tian nation  for  the  last  five  hundred  years — half  a  mil- 
lennium— at  least  as  Christian  as  many  of  the  nations 
of  Christendom.  Now  at  last  another  opportunity,  and 
one  of  even  greater  promise,  has  come.    China  and  all 


126 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


the  Far  East  are  craving  Western  light.  The  Ruler 
of  the  ages  has  put  within  our  own  parish  circles,  to 
stay  for  a  few  years  before  returning  to  Asia,  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  sons  of  the  Orient,  hun- 
dreds of  them  picked  men.  It  is  the  most  stupendous 
challenge  in  human  history. 


VI 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING 
AGENCIES 


Gifts  differ,  but  the  Spirit  is  the  same;  ways  of  serving 
differ,  yet  the  Master  is  the  same ;  results  differ,  yet  the  God 
who  brings  about  every  result  is  in  every  case  the  same. 

If  the  foot  says,  '  Since  I  am  not  a  hand,  I  do  not  belong  to 
the  body,'  it  does  not  on  that  account  cease  to  belong  to  the 
body.  Or  if  the  ear  says,  '  Since  I  am  not  an  eye,  I  do  not 
belong  to  the  body,'  it  does  not  on  that  account  cease  to  belong 
to  the  body.  If  all  the  body  were  an  eye,  where  would  the 
hearing  be?  If  it  were  all  hearing,  where  would  the  sense  of 
smell  be?  But  in  fact  God  has  placed  each  individual  part  just 
where  he  thought  fit  in  the  body. 

Paul. 


VI 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES 

IS  the  development  of  the  New  America  to  be  left 
entirely  to  the  working  of  unconscious  forces  and 
more  or  less  blind  economic  factors?  The  high- 
est attainment  of  evolution  is  the  guidance  of  the  proc- 
ess. In  the  creation  of  our  new  and  unprecedented 
nation  out  of  raw  materials  from  all  nations  there  are 
a  number  of  guiding  and  inspiring  agencies.  They  all 
work  together,  but  for  convenience  of  description  may 
be  classified  as  State  Agencies,  Society  Agencies  and 
Church  Agencies.  Their  co-operation  might  well  be- 
come more  than  as  yet  a  deliberately  planned  and 
closely  articulated  co-operation. 

STATE  AGENCIES 

Selection. — The  government  has  laws  and  an  elabo- 
rate administrative  system  for  sifting  applicants  for 
admission.  More  than  twenty  causes,  physical,  mental 
and  moral,  are  assigned  for  debarring  them.  Many 
think  that  the  sieve  ought  to  be  finer.  As  it  is,  it  de- 
barred sixteen  thousand  and  fifty-seven  in  the  year 
ending  June  30,  19 12.  In  addition  to  that  two  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fifty-three  were  returned  who  had 
been  allowed  to  enter.   In  1909,  over  twenty-four  thou- 

129 


130 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


sand  were  debarred;  in  five  years,  ending  with  June, 
1912,  eighty-four  thousand.  In  some  months  of  recent 
years  the  exclusions  have  been  as  high  as  three  per 
cent  of  the  arrivals. 

The  continuous  work  of  the  United  States  in  receiv- 
ing the  new  Americans  is  conducted  by  its  Bureau  of 
Immigration  in  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor.  The  administration  of  the  government's  regula- 
tions concerning  the  admission  of  approximately  three 
thousand  people  every  day,  on  the  average,  through  the 
year,  is  a  task  of  enormous  proportions  and  of  a 
delicacy  and  difficulty  almost  incalculable.  Every  one 
of  the  applicants  is  a  person,  and  the  center  of  the  world 
to  himself.  No  servants  of  society  in  America  deserve 
the  appreciative  sympathy,  the  support  and  the  prayers 
of  the  lovers  of  God  and  men  more  than  do  our  immi- 
gration officials.  On  them  we  place  vast  responsibility 
as  to  the  character  of  the  New  America.  Under  the 
Commissioner-General  there  are  nine  Commissioners, 
stationed  at  New  York,  Boston,  Montreal,  Philadel- 
phia, Baltimore,  New  Orleans,  San  Juan,  San  Fran- 
cisco and  Seattle.  There  are  twenty-three  districts. 
An  inspector  is  in  charge  where  there  is  no  Commis- 
sioner resident.  At  the  chief  gateway,  Ellis  Island, 
New  York,  there  are  six  hundred  and  fifty  govern- 
mental employes  of  all  kinds.  The  staff  of  medical 
inspectors  is  often  seriously  overtaxed.  By  rapid  and 
at  the  same  time  keen  and  kindly  inspection  they  im- 
mediately pass  the  great  majority  of  applicants. 
Eighty  per  cent  of  those  who  come  are  kept  at  Ellis 
Island  only  three  hours.  A  few  must  be  detained  for 
further  inquiry. 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  131 


There  are  various  causes  for  detention  on  Ellis 
Island.  Many  are  waiting  for  friends  to  meet  them.  In 
the  crowded  seasons  as  high  as  two  thousand  may  be 
lodged  there.  It  is  a  vast  temporary  home  as  well  as 
sifting-place.  An  important  adjunct  is  the  hospital 
service.  All  about  the  buildings  the  following  "  Order 
Concerning  the  Treatment  of  Immigrants  "  is  conspicu- 
ously posted,  "  Immigrants  shall  be  treated  with  kind- 
ness and  civility  by  every  one  at  Ellis  Island.  Neither 
harsh  language  ncfr  rough  handling  will  be  tolerated. 
The  Commissioner  desires  that  any  instance  of  dis- 
obedience of  this  order  be  brought  immediately  to  his 
attention." 

Representatives  of  missionary  and  other  philan- 
thropic aid  societies  have  desks  in  the  heart  of  the 
building.  Nothing  is  more  significant  of  America's 
good  will  and  welcome  to  its  new  people.  There  are 
thirty-nine  of  these  accredited  representatives,  twenty- 
five  of  them  under  avowedly  religious  auspices.  The 
workers  speak  with  almost  all  known  tongues  and 
render  almost  every  kind  of  humane  service. 

Distribution. — The  Bureau  of  Immigration  has  a 
Division  of  Information  which  was  instituted  by  act  of 
Congress  as  follows : 

Correspondence  shall  be  had  with  the  proper  officials  of  the 
States  and  Territories  and  said  division  shall  gather  from  all 
available  sources  useful  information  regarding  the  resources, 
products  and  physical  characteristics  of  each  State  and  Territory, 
and  shall  publish  such  information  in  different  languages  and 
distribute  the  publications  among  all  admitted  aliens  who  may 
ask  for  such  information  at  the  immigrant  stations  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  such  persons  as  may  desire  the  same. 


132 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


In  191 1  over  one  hundred  thousand  people  received 
the  benefit  of  this  agency,  thirty  thousand  six  hundred 
fifty-nine  being  direct  applicants. 

Many  of  the  Western  states  have  departments  de- 
voted to  the  securing  of  settlers,  and  other  activities 
bearing  on  immigration.  Such  departments  are  being 
created  in  Eastern  states  to  aid  in  the  distribution  of 
immigration  and  in  other  vital  services  for  them. 

Naturalization. — The  desire  to  become  citizens  varies 
greatly  with  the  nationality  of  the  immigrant,  ranging 
all  the  way  from  less  than  six  per  cent  of  the  Portu- 
guese to  more  than  ninety-two  per  cent  of  the  Swedes. 
About  seven-tenths  of  the  men  of  the  older  immigra- 
tion (fifteen  nationalities)  have  sought  naturalization 
and  about  three-tenths  of  the  men  of  the  newer  immi- 
gration (twenty-five  nationalities).  In  recent  years 
our  government  has  greatly  increased  endeavor  to  make 
the  process  of  naturalization  intelligent  and  judicial. 
The  courts  having  jurisdiction,  about  twenty-five  hun- 
dred, are  aided  by  the  Division  of  Naturalization  in  the 
Bureau  of  Immigration.  It  has  examiners  who  are  to 
look  into  each  case  and  present  their  findings  to  the 
courts.  Obviously  this  work  of  making  American  sov- 
ereigns ought  to  be  guarded  and  strengthened  to  the 
utmost.  There  are  enough  foreign-born  in  this  country 
to  displace  the  entire  population  of  nineteen  of  the 
states.  If  so  distributed,  they  could  elect  thirty-eight 
United  States  senators. 

Education. — This  is  the  chief  governmental  activity 
in  behalf  of  the  new  Americans.  Five  of  the  forty-two 
volumes  issued  by  the  recently  organized  Immigration 
Commission  are  devoted  to  the  school  attendance  and 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  133 


progress  of  children  of  immigrants.  Not  only  is  the 
school  the  chief  agency  of  the  state  in  Americaniza- 
tion, but  that  has  now  become  the  chief  work  of  the 
schools.  It  was  found  that  57.8  per  cent  of  the  pupils 
in  the  public  schools  are  children  of  foreign-born 
fathers.  Even  in  the  cities  where  the  percentage  was 
lowest,  New  Orleans  and  Kansas  City,  eighteen  and 
twenty-one  out  of  every  hundred  were  of  direct  Euro- 
pean parentage.  It  is  typical  and  suggestive  that  the 
highest  percentage  was  just  the  same  for  an  Eastern 
and  a  Western  city :  Chelsea,  Mass.,  and  Duluth,  Minn., 
74.1  per  cent.  New  York  City  had  71.5  per  cent,  Chi- 
cago, 67.3  per  cent,  and  Boston,  63.5  per  cent. 

In  every  school  where  many  of  these  children  attend 
are  found  instances  of  the  greatest  mental  alertness. 
The  children  of  eight  nationalities,  taken  as  a  whole, 
grade  higher  than  the  average  children  of  native- 
born  white  fathers,  Finns  ranking  the  highest.  The 
public  schools  are  the  hope  of  the  New  America  more 
even  than  was  "the  little  red  school-house"  of  old. 
A  teacher  in  a  New  York  City  public  school  has  put 
it  in  a  way  not  easily  forgotten,  "  Children  of  twenty- 
nine  nationalities  enter  our  school;  they  go  out  one 
nationality." 

Public  libraries  as  well  as  public  schools  give  atten- 
tion, many  of  them  large  attention,  to  the  needs  of  the 
new  Americans.  They  provide  books  in  the  languages 
most  used  in  the  community.  Large  libraries  have 
special  attendants  for  the  non-English  departments, 
some  of  them  rooms  set  apart  for  their  use.  Special 
branches  are  opened  in  foreign-speaking  neighbor- 
hoods.  In  Rochester,  for  example,  in  a  neighborhood 


134 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


where  there  are  between  six  and  seven  thousand  Poles 
and  no  public  school  within  a  radius  of  a  mile,  philan- 
thropic people  organized  an  Institute  for  teaching  Eng- 
lish and  it  was  made  the  first  Branch  of  the  Rochester 
Public  Library. 

Protection. — The  Bureau  of  Industries  and  Immi- 
gration of  the  State  of  New  York  was  established  in 
191  o.  Its  purpose  is  thus  summarized  in  the  first  an- 
nual report : 

Believing  that  an  alien's  first  impression,  his  first  experiences 
on  arrival  and  his  first  contact  with  American  institutions,  are 
the  most  lasting;  that  if  his  property  rights  and  liberty  are  not 
respected  on  arrival  he  cannot  be  expected  to  respect  those  of 
people  resident  here;  and  that  if  he  has  not  been  given  a  square 
deal  he  will  later  visit  his  early  experiences  upon  his  newly 
arrived  brothers ;  the  State  has  undertaken,  so  far  as  its  facilities 
permit,  to  make  these  early  experiences  forces  for  real  civiliza- 
tion. 

The  exploitation  of  immigrants  and  of  emigrants  by 
New  York  hotels  and  transfer  companies,  the  out- 
rageous conditions  of  labor  camps  and  man}"  other 
forms  of  wrong,  are  beginning  to  be  righted.  As  al- 
ready noticed,  a  number  of  states  have  immigration 
boards  of  one  kind  or  another.  The  New  York  Bureau 
has  led  in  the  formation  of  a  National  Conference  of 
Immigration  and  Labor  Officials.  Its  objects  are  to 
promote  state  activities  of  the  kind  just  described.  It 
is  significant  of  the  fine  purpose  of  this  movement  that 
the  Chief  Investigator  of  the  New  York  Bureau  is  a 
woman.  One  of  its  special  investigators  was  Miss 
Carola  W'oerishoffer,  a  young  woman  of  large  wealth, 
who  gave  herself  in  unstinted  devotion  to  discerning 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  135 


and  remedying  needs,  even  working  for  that  purpose, 
incognito,  in  laundries  and  other  places  of  lowHest 
service.  Her  life  was  lost  in  an  accident  while  on  a 
mission  of  mercy  for  the  Immigration  Bureau.  It 
seemed  to  the  writer  peculiarly  fitting  that  her  body 
should  lie  in  humble  state  in  the  "  Church  of  the  In- 
carnation." 

SOCIETY  AGENCIES 

There  are  many  organizations  doing  important  work 
for  immigrants  which  are  official  organs  of  neither 
state  nor  church.  Most  of  them  may  be  grouped  under 
the  following  classes. 

General  Organisations. — There  are  a  number  of 
these.  The  following  are  good  examples :  The  North 
American  Civic  League  was  organized  in  Boston  in 
1908.  It  has  an  active  branch  in  New  York  and  is  ex- 
tending its  work  elsewhere.  It  seeks  to  educate  the 
older  Americans  to  sustain  appreciative  relations  with 
the  new  Americans  and  to  educate  the  latter  in  the 
American  speech  and  duties.  It  undertakes  protec- 
tion and  educational  measures  in  preparation  for  co- 
operation with  state  agencies.  It  sends  "  domestic 
educators  "  into  neighborhoods  and  homes  of  immi- 
grants. One  of  its  great  services  has  been  the  organiza- 
tion, in  19 1 2,  of  the  Immigration  Council,  composed 
of  representatives  of  thirty-five  societies  engaged  in 
work  for  immigrants  in  New  York  City.  This  is  for 
the  purpose  of  avoiding  duplication  of  work  and  hav- 
ing a  central  bureau  of  information. 

The  Immigrants'  Protective  League  of  Chicago  is  an 
efficient  organization  with  the  same  aims  as  the  North 


136 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


American  Civic  League.  It  is  the  intelligent,  alert 
and  generous  friend  of  the  newcomer. 

The  Travelers'  Aid  Society  "  provides  information, 
advice,  guidance  and  protection  to  all  travelers  irre- 
spective of  age,  race,  creed,  class  or  sex.  It  thereby 
relieves  suffering  and  prevents  error,  wrong,  extortion 
and  crime  at  a  time  when  the  desired  victim  is  most 
accessible.  The  agents  are  not  allowed  to  receive 
gratuities  or  fees.  Women  agents  of  the  Society,  who 
speak  the  different  languages,  meet  trains  and  steamers 
to  aid  and  conduct  inexperienced  or  confused  travelers 
any  hour  of  the  day  or  night  to  their  destination  within 
the  city,  or  to  trains  or  steamers  for  other  points.  This 
protection  is  continued  by  co-operation  with  other  so- 
cieties or  friends  at  terminal  points,  until  the  traveler  is 
known  to  have  safely  reached  the  proper  destination. 
When  necessary  the  Society  provides  temporarily  for 
the  traveler  at  headquarters."  It  has  nineteen  agents 
regularly  appointed  to  meet  railroad  trains  and  trans- 
atlantic steamers.  These  workers  speak  twenty-one 
languages  and  many  dialects.  In  191 1  they  met  at  the 
docks  11,563  people  of  forty-eight  nationalities.  From 
the  beginning  of  their  work  in  1905  to  January  ist, 
1913,  they  had  met  55,961  people,  of  sixty-four  nation- 
alities. This  organization  especially  meets  the  needs  of 
aliens  who  come  as  cabin  passengers.  The  nationality 
societies  and  many  missionary  societies  also  carry  on 
this  line  of  work,  for  steerage  passengers. 

Nationality  Societies. — At  least  twenty-nine  nation- 
alities have  organizations  of  their  own  which  give  con- 
siderable attention  to  the  new  arrivals  of  their  re- 
spective nationalities,  often  meeting  them  on  landing, 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  137 


sometimes  providing  for  their  necessities  afterward, 
and  in  general  throwing  about  them  the  social  and 
fraternal  help  which  make  them  feel  at  home  at  once  in 
the  new  country.  Some  foreign  governments  grant 
these  organizations  subsidies.  Several  nationalities 
have  more  than  one  organization  of  the  kind.  In  some 
cases  one  is  under  Catholic  and  one  under  Protestant 
auspices.  Let  the  following  statement  of  one  of  the 
Italian  societies  serve  as  a  sample : 

It  "  employs  agents  to  look  after  the  needs  of  the 
immigrants  at  Ellis  Island;  it  runs  an  escort  service, 
by  which  competent  persons  are  furnished,  at  nominal 
cost,  to  take  immigrants  to  their  destination;  it  con- 
ducts an  employment  agency;  it  maintains  an  informa- 
tion bureau;  it  co-operates  with  the  United  States 
authorities  to  enforce  the  immigration  laws;  it  manages 
labor  camps  for  conductors;  it  wages  war  on  all  per- 
sons engaged  in  swindling  immigrants;  it  is  engaged 
in  breaking  up  the  padrone  system  in  all  its  forms; 
and  lastly  and  generally,  it  does  all  it  can  to  help  immi- 
grants, so  that  as  soon  as  possible  they  may  become 
self-supporting  and  self-respecting  citizens,  a  benefit 
and  not  a  detriment  to  this  country." 

The  race  making  the  best  provision  for  its  incoming 
members  is  the  Hebrew.  They  have  nine  general  or- 
ganizations for  this  and  kindred  purposes.  The  Baron 
de  Hirsch  Fund  and  the  Educational  Alliance  do  an 
immense  work  for  the  comfort  and  Americanization  of 
the  children  of  Israel. 

Immigrant  Homes. — One  of  the  agencies  which  is 
specially  helpful  to  many  at  the  outset  of  their  Ameri- 
can experiences  is  the  Immigrant  Home  which  is  under 


138 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


philanthropic  management.  There  those  who  are  not 
met  by  friends,  and  are  at  a  loss  which  way  to  turn, 
may  tarry  for  a  short  time  at  a  reasonable  expense  and 
be  under  protective  influences.  There  are  not  less  than 
thirteen  of  these  Homes  in  New  York  City.  Some  of 
them  are  under  racial  and  others  under  denominational 
auspices.  Other  ports  have  such  Homes.  In  one  year 
fifteen  thousand  immigrants  were  discharged  to  benevo- 
lent homes  and  aid  societies. 

Labor  Unions. — Labor  Unions  have  a  large  part  to 
play  in  the  Americanization  and  assimilation  of  the 
newcomers.  The  vast  majority  of  those  who  come  be- 
long to  the  laboring  classes.  Professor  John  R.  Com- 
mons, in  "  Races  and  Immigrants  in  America,"  says, 
"  The  labor  Union  is  at  present  the  strongest  American- 
izing force.  Before  the  organization  of  the  Union 
in  the  anthracite  coal  fields  the  foreigners  were  given 
over  to  the  most  bitter  and  often  murderous  feuds 
among  the  ten  or  fifteen  nationalities  and  the  two  or 
three  factions  within  each  nationality.  The  Polish 
worshipers  of  a  given  saint  would  organize  a  night 
attack  on  the  Polish  worshipers  of  another  saint;  the 
Italians  from  one  province  would  have  a  knife  for  the 
Italians  of  another  province,  and  so  on.  When  the 
Union  was  organized  the  antagonisms  of  race,  religion 
and  faction  were  eliminated.  The  sense  of  a  common 
cause  and  more  than  all  else,  the  sense  of  individual 
rights  as  men,  have  come  to  these  people  through  the 
organization  of  their  labor  Unions  and  could  come 
in  no  other  way,  for  the  Union  appeals  to  their  neces- 
sities, while  other  forces  appeal  to  their  prejudices." 

Young  People's  Associations. — Both  the  Young 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  139 


Men's  and  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations 
have  departments  for  work  among  immigrant  peoples. 
These  might  be  classed  under  church  agencies  but  since 
their  work  is  chiefly  without  special  religious  emphasis 
and  along  lines  similar  to  those  of  the  Jewish  and  other 
organizations  now  being  considered,  they  belong  here 
also.  Jenks  and  Lauck,  in  "  The  Immigration  Prob- 
lem," say,  of  one  of  these,  "  The  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  has  for  the  past  few  years  made  efforts 
to  do  work  of  a  purely  secular  character  among  the 
immigrant  races."  The  Industrial  Department  of  the 
International  Committee  has  twelve  emigration  secre- 
taries at  ports  of  departure  in  Europe,  and  thirteen  at 
ports  of  entry  in  America,  with  three  general  secre- 
taries in  the  Immigration  Section.  In  1912  also  there 
were  conducted  classes  to  teach  the  English  language 
in  twenty-nine  states  and  the  District  of  Columbia, 
with  16,402  students.  More  than  forty  nationalities 
are  reached.  The  annual  expenditures  exclusively  for 
this  work  are  about  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

The  National  Board  of  the  Young  Women's  Chris- 
tian Association  inaugurated  definite  work  for  immi- 
grant young  women  in  October,  19 10.  The  Secretary 
in  charge  of  the  work  reported  in  January,  1913,  "  All 
the  activities  for  the  immigrant  girls  will  go  under  the 
title  of  '  The  International  Institute  for  Young  Women 
of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association.'  .  .  . 
This  scheme  is  actually  in  full  operation  in  two  cities; — 
the  International  Institute  in  New  York  City  has  a 
budget  of  twenty  thousand  dollars.  .  .  .  The  second 
Institute  is  at  Trenton,  with  a  budget  of  three  thou- 
sand dollars.  .  .  .  Aside  from  this  protective  and 


140 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


educational  system,  which  aims  to  reach  the  present 
immigration  from  central  and  southern  Europe,  fifty- 
seven  Associations  in  the  country  are  maintaining  in 
their  headquarters'  buildings  English  classes  for  for- 
eigners." By  April  an  institute  had  been  opened  in 
Lawrence,  Mass.  Sixteen  full-time  workers  were  em- 
ployed in  the  three  institutes. 

Social  Settlements. — Social  settlements  are  among 
the  efficient  agencies  for  the  assimilation  of  foreigners. 
A  large  feature  of  the  work  in  every  settlement  where 
there  are  foreigners  is  in  their  behalf.  "  Americans  in 
Process,  a  Settlement  Study,"  by  Robert  A.  Woods, 
sets  this  forth  in  its  very  title.  In  "  Twenty  Years  at 
Hull  House,"  Jane  Addams  devotes  an  entire  chapter 
to  the  subject  and  makes  it  a  prominent  feature  in 
nearly  every  other  chapter.  There  are  more  than  four 
hundred  social  settlements  in  the  United  States.  One 
hundred  sixty-three  of  these  are  under  avowedly  re- 
ligious auspices,  Methodists,  Episcopalians  and  Jews 
being  in  the  lead,  with  Roman  Catholic  and  other  de- 
nominations represented.  Most  of  the  settlements 
conduct  the  work  in  a  way  to  respect  the  religious 
convictions  of  people  of  every  race  and  creed.  The 
social  settlements  w^hich  nominally  exclude  religion 
from  their  special  work  are  nevertheless  conducted  un- 
der the  motives  which  were  energized  in  the  world  by 
the  ministry  and  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ.  Even  when 
the  workers  do  not  allow  themselves  the  broader  out- 
look on  the  universe  which  they  would  get  from  a 
distinct  recognition  of  this,  and  when  those  for  whom 
they  work  lose  the  deep  and  high  inspiration  which 
has  come  into  the  human  race  in  this  way,  they  are 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  141 


still,  though  somewhat  blindly  and  narrowly,  doing  the 
work  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth.  A  social 
settlement  is  a  collective  reincarnation  of  the  Spirit  of 
Christ. 

CHURCH  agencies:     I.  INTERDENOMINATIONAL 

Church  agencies  start  with  individuals,  enlist  a  whole 
church,  spread  throughout  a  denomination  and  secure 
interdenominational  co-operation.  It  may  be  more 
helpful  to  review  them  in  the  reverse  order : 

The  Home  Missions  Council. — Among  its  other  en- 
deavors in  co-ordinating  the  activities  of  the  mission 
boards  this  Council  has  had  committees  on  work  among- 
special  groups  of  foreign-speaking  people,  and  at  its 
annual  meeting  in  1913  established  a  Standing  Com- 
mittee on  Immigrant  work.  This  committee  may 
be  able  to  standardize  forms  of  report  so  that  in 
future  it  will  be  possible  to  ascertain  what  is  being 
done  by  denominational  agencies  in  such  a  way  as  to 
aggregate  the  data  and  present  the  work  as  a  whole. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Council  may  find  ways  of  co- 
ordinating and  distributing  endeavor  so  as  to  eliminate 
waste  by  competition,  and  especially  so  as  to  secure  the 
attention  of  some  home  mission  agency  or  other  to 
every  group  of  foreigners,  so  that  the  Gospel  may  be 
given  to  all  new  Americans. 

The  Council  of  Women  for  Home  Missions. — At 
its  annual  meeting  in  December,  1912,  this  Council 
created  a  Standing  Committee  on  Home  Mission  In- 
terests among  Immigrants,  and  has  assigned  to  this 
committee  the  duty  of  securing  and  keeping  on  file 


14£ 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


information  regarding  immigrants  and  the  Christian 
work  being  done  on  their  behalf  at  ports  of  entry  and 
elsewhere,  as  well  as  of  furthering  through  existing 
agencies  their  Christian  education  and  uplift.  Through 
this  standing  committee,  the  Council  has  taken  over 
the  work  inaugurated  early  in  1912  by  the  Fireside 
Leagues  in  teaching  English  by  means  of  Biblical  ma- 
terial, and  has  assigned  this  special  service  to  its  sub- 
committee on  English  for  Immigrants. 

All  students  of  immigration  problems  agree  that  the 
help  most  needed  by  our  non-English-speaking  people 
is  help  in  learning  the  language  of  their  adopted  coun- 
try. 

Since  four-fifths  of  our  immigrants  of  foreign  speech 
come  from  lands  in  which  the  Bible  is  not  an  open 
book,  it  is  of  vital  importance  that  they  become  ac- 
quainted with  those  Biblical  ideals  which  have  shaped 
our  national  life.  The  conservation  of  our  national 
ideals  depends  upon  acquainting  the  incoming  tides  of 
life  with  those  ideals. 

The  American  Bible  Society. — A  large  number  of 
the  million  and  more  Bibles  and  Bible  portions  in  Eng- 
lish circulated  in  the  United  States  in  19 12  by  this 
Society,  were  for  use  by  foreigners  among  us  who  are 
learning  to  read  our  language  in  that  best  possible  way. 
In  addition  to  that,  about  three  hundred  thousand 
volumes  were  issued  for  use  in  the  United  States  in 
seventy  other  languages.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the 
colporteurs  and  others  employed  to  distribute  the  Scrip- 
tures in  this  country  gave  attention  largely  to  for- 
eigners. Of  the  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  spent 
by  the  Society  in  publishing  and  distributing  Bibles 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  143 


in  the  United  States  that  year,  one-fourth  or  more 
should  be  accredited  to  work  for  foreigners. 

Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools'  Association. — College 
men  and  women  and  theological  seminary  students  are 
engaged  in  teaching  boys  and  girls  the  Bible  and  some 
simple  practical  arts.  In  191 2  schools  were  held  in 
twenty- four  cities,  conducted  by  nine  hundred  and  four 
teachers  with  some  fifty  thousand  boys  and  girls. 
Eighty  per  cent  of  the  pupils  were  of  foreign  parent- 
age. They  were  of  many  races  and  creeds.  This  work 
means  much  in  direct  ministry  to  new  Americans  at 
once,  and  still  more  in  the  training  of  college  young 
men  and  women  for  such  ministry  throughout  their 
lives. 

The  National  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union. — This  society  has  a  Department  of  Work 
among  Foreign-speaking  People.  It  lists  in  19 12  one 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  pieces  of  literature  printed 
in  twenty  foreign  tongues.  Its  members  are  urged  to 
study  the  conditions  of  the  foreign-speaking  people  in 
their  own  communities,  and  to  carry  to  them  the  gospel 
of  temperance. 

The  American  Tract  Society. — About  half  the  work 
of  the  Society  in  the  United  States  is  for  the  foreigners. 
During  the  year  ending  March  31,  1912,  it  ministered 
to  the  spiritual  needs  of  forty  different  nationalities  in 
eighteen  states.  In  doing  this,  fifty-three  of  the  So- 
ciety's one  hundred  six  colporteurs  used  foreign 
tongues  and  distributed  forty-six  thousand  volumes 
printed  in  languages  other  than  English.  They  sold 
much,  but  the  literature  given  away  was  listed  at 
$4,254.76.   As  with  all  organizations  doing  such  work 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


it  is  impossible  to  say  how  much  of  the  entire  outlay 
is  to  be  accredited  to  the  work  for  foreigners,  but 
thirty  thousand  dollars  for  the  year  appears  ^to  be  a 
moderate  estimate. 

For  whatever  purpose  these  interdenominational  or- 
ganizations were  primarily  formed,  it  has  come  to  pass 
in  the  present  development  of  our  country  that  an  im- 
portant part  of  their  work  and  an  increasing  part  is 
in  behalf  of  the  strangers  within  our  gates. 

CHURCH   agencies:     II.  DENOMINATIONAL 

As  the  forces  of  the  kingdom  of  God  at  present  are 
organized  by  denominations,  the  largest  efiFective  action 
comes  in  that  way. 

Proportion  of  F or eign^sp caking  Church  Members. — 
The  United  States  census  of  religious  bodies  (1906) 
shows  that  forty-one  languages  were  in  use  and  that 
one  hundred  fourteen  denominations  had  churches  in 
which  some  foreign  language  was  used.  24,594 
churches  with  8,394,229  members  reported  the  use  of 
a  foreign  language  alone  or  in  addition  to  English, 
that  is,  about  one-fourth  of  all  the  church  members 
in  the  country.  The  bulk  of  these  were  in  Roman 
Catholic,  Lutheran,  Jewish  and  smaller  religious  bodies 
transplanted  from  Europe  and  Asia.  When  we  turn 
to  the  more  distinctively  American  religious  bodies  and 
select  those  which  mainly  occupy  the  portion  of  the 
country  where  immigrants  abound,  we  get  some  sug- 
gestion of  the  ministry  of  these  denominations  to  for- 
eigners. In  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention,  Con- 
gregationalistS;  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (North) 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  145 


and  Presbyterians  of  the  United  States  of  America 
(North)  five  and  one-half  per  cent  of  all  the  churches 
use  a  foreign  language.  To  these  churches  belong  over 
four  per  cent  of  all  the  communicants  in  the  denomina- 
tional bodies  named.  They  are  practically  all  the  re- 
sult of  home  mission  activity.  When  the  obstacles  to 
be  overcome  in  bringing  non-English-speaking  peoples 
into  such  radically  American  bodies  are  considered, 
and  when  it  is  remembered  that  many  of  the  earlier 
churches  of  the  kind  have  long  since  ceased  to  use  a 
foreign  tongue,  the  census  finding  is  a  noteworthy 
indication  of  missionary  enterprise  and  success.  The 
four  denominational  bodies  aggregated  about  six  mil- 
lion members.  The  exact  percentages  of  their  mem- 
bers in  churches  using  a  foreign  tongue  were,  Baptists 
6.3,  Congregationalists  5.4,  Methodists  3.3,  Presby- 
terians 3.5. 

Missionary  Forces. — Since  1906  there  has  been  in- 
creasing activity  in  this  phase  of  missions  and  several 
denominations  are  taking  new  measures  of  efficiency. 
There  is,  of  course,  no  such  costly  and  extensive  ac- 
cumulation of  data  as  that  made  by  the  government, 
but  facts  furnished  by  denominational  administrators 
show  more  aspects  of  the  missionary  work  and  give  us 
a  good  suggestion  of  the  state  of  the  work  at  the  begin- 
ning of  19 1 3.  The  forty  societies  and  boards  which 
have  given  us  figures,  employed  in  their  foreign-speak- 
ing work  thirty-four  hundred  missionaries  and  appro- 
priated to  this  work  more  than  one  and  a  half  million 
dollars  during  the  year  1911-12.  It  appears  that  the 
four  denominations  which  are  doing  most  in  this 
line  of  service — Congregational,  Northern  Baptist, 


146  THE  NEW  AMERICA 


Methodist  and  Presbyterian — counting  self-supporting 
as  well  as  aided  churches,  have  thirty-three  hundred 
churches  and  missions  using  other  than  the  English 
language.  These  churches  have  more  than  two  hun- 
dred thousand  members.  There  are  more  than  two 
thousand  men  giving  their  whole  time  to  this  work  and 
more  than  four  hundred  women.  The  annual  expendi- 
ture for  it  aggregates  more  than  two  and  a  half  million 
dollars. 

Adding  to  the  somewhat  complete  account  of  the 
four  denominations  only  the  society  and  board  work 
of  the  other  denominations  (all  the  data  given),  we  dis- 
cover in  all  more  than  four  thousand  workers  and  an 
expenditure  of  more  than  three  million  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  To  get  the  grand  total,  however,  we 
must  add  to  this  the  foreign-speaking  sections  of  the 
great  Lutheran  denomination.  It  has  over  eleven  thou- 
sand foreign-speaking  churches  with  seven  thousand 
ministers  and  nearly  two  million  members. 

Quality  of  Christians. — All  who  know  many  of  the 
foreign-speaking  members  in  the  churches  under  con- 
sideration recognize  in  them,  as  a  whole,  a  type  of 
Christianity  which  is  peculiarly  refreshing.  For  the 
most  part  there  is  a  simplicity  and  fervor  which  may 
well  set  an  example  to  churches  of  the  older  American 
stock.  They  promise  to  provide  new  blood  which 
American  Christianity  needs.  Often  they  show  an 
apostolic  quality  which  is  inspiring.  In  the  matter  of 
giving,  for  instance,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  in  proportion 
to  ability  they  give  at  least  twice  as  much  as  their 
brethren  of  long  American  lineage. 

Two-fold  Work. — The  two  sides  of  Christian  minis- 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  147 


try  are  emphasized  more  fully  in  work  among  foreign- 
ers than  in  the  average  work  of  the  churches.  Personal 
evangelism  is  inevitably  a  decisive  feature  in  winning 
the  immigrants  to  American  Christianity.  Social  min- 
istry is  also  prominent  in  this  work.  The  need  of  the 
work  may  be  seen  from  the  following  recent  and  con- 
crete record  of  work  in  one  of  the  denominations  which 
is  always  strongly  emphasizing  personal  evangelism. 
It  is  from  the  Pittsburg  District,  Pennsylvania : 

The  Association  has  ten  men  and  five  women  at  work  among 
the  foreign-speaking  peoples,  who  give  their  whole  time  to  it. 
They  reach  people  in  ten  different  languages.  They  are  beacon 
lights  pointing  the  way  home  to  shipwrecked  and  storm-tossed 
souls.  Helpless  children  are  given  attention.  Those  unjustly 
imposed  upon  by  unscrupulous  tradesmen  and  dishonest  agen- 
cies are  given  advice  and  helped  to  their  rightful  protection. 
The  homeless  are  housed  and  the  unemployed  found  employ- 
ment. These  our  brothers  and  sisters  who  labor  with  these 
dependent  ones  count  not  their  own  pleasure  and  comfort,  but 
serve  as  angels  of  mercy  to  those  who  most  need  it. 

This  is  applied  Christianity — our  Brother  Blank  starting  out 
before  daylight  and  standing  in  the  frosty  morning  interpreting 
for  his  people  to  find  them  positions,  or  tramping  from  place  to 
place  with  them  until  employment  has  been  found;  Miss  Blank 
working  with  fifty  Syrian  and  Italian  girls,  teaching  them  the 
first  lessons  of  neatness,  industry  and  Christlikeness,  or  in 
another  school  working  with  Jewish,  Russian,  Lithuanian  and 
other  children  in  the  same  manner. 

Brother  Blank  has  been  able,  along  with  his  successful  work 
among  the  Russians,  where  a  goodly  number  have  been  baptized, 
to  have  two  young  Jews  confess  Christ  publicly  by  being  bap- 
tized. One  of  these  is  a  prominent  physician,  the  other  also  a 
bright  man. 

'Supervision. — The  denominational  organizations 
which  are  conducting  missionary  work  among  for- 
eigners are  of  six  types.    There  are  about  twenty 


148 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


General  Missionary  Boards,  including  the  entire 
constituency  of  their  respective  denominations.  Both 
men  and  women  are  enlisted  in  this  work.  In 
addition  there  are  some  ten  Women's  Boards  engaged 
in  it,  with  missionaries  of  their  own.  They  give  much 
attention  to  school  work  and  visiting  in  the  homes 
of  the  new  Americans.  Several  denominations  have 
also  Publication  Boards  which  provide  literature  for 
non-English-speaking  people,  some  of  them  sending  out 
colporteurs  to  disseminate  the  literature  and  present 
the  gospel.  A  number  of  Theological  Seminaries  have 
departments  devoted  to  foreign-speaking  nationalities. 
Some  whole  seminaries  are  given  to  that.  There  are 
also  a  number  of  Training  Schools  for  lay-workers, 
many  of  the  students  of  which  are  fitting  themselves 
for  work  among  foreigners.  Co-operating  with  the 
general  missionary  organizations  are  State  and  other 
District  Bodies  variously  named  according  to  the 
church  polity  of  their  denomination.  In  some  denomi- 
nations State  Conventions  do  a  large  missionary  work 
which  is  becoming  more  and  more  in  the  eastern 
portions  of  the  country  a  work  for  foreign-speaking 
peoples.  This  is  generally  conducted  in  close  financial 
and  inspirational  co-operation  with  the  national  agen- 
cies. The  other  special  group  of  organizations  is  made 
up  of  City  Mission  Societies.  Inasmuch  as  there  is  a 
strong  tendency  among  immigrants  to  settle  in  cities, 
and  inasmuch  as  many  of  the  larger  cities  are  getting 
to  be  composed  mainly  of  citizens  of  foreign  parentage, 
a  large  part  of  the  work  of  city  mission  societies  is  in 
their  behalf. 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  149 


CHURCH  AGENCIES.     III.  LOCAL  CHURCHES 

A  large  amount  of  work  is  done  by  the  local  churches 
without  subsidy  from  general  organizations. 

Institutional  Churches. — Many  churches,  largely  in 
view  of  the  conditions  created  by  immigrants,  have 
established  various  social  ministries.  Socialized 
church  is  perhaps  a  better  name  than  institutional 
church.  Every  denomination  has  some  conspicuous 
instances  of  this  type  of  work.  Many  churches  which 
have  not  aspired  to  the  title  have  entered  into  activities 
of  the  kind  mentioned.  For  example,  in  the  late  90's 
the  Fourth  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  Pittsburg,  adopted 
one  phase  after  another,  so  that  it  went  into  the 
twentieth  century  with  a  list  of  twenty  different  forms 
of  social  ministry.  A  little  later,  at  an  International 
Exposition  in  Belgium  it  received  first  award  among 
churches  represented  there  as  doing  social  work.  In 
addition  to  the  conspicuous  institutional  churches  like 
St.  George's,  New  York;  Temple  Baptist,  Philadelphia; 
Labor  Temple,  Presbyterian,  New  York;  Morgan 
Memorial,  Boston,  and  Halsted  Street,  Chicago,  Meth- 
odist; First  Congregational,  Jersey  City;  there  are 
hundreds  if  not  thousands  of  churches  in  the  country 
which  are  rendering  social  ministries  largely  with  a 
view  to  meeting  the  needs  of  immigrants. 

Branch  Churches  and  Missions. — Many  churches 
have  established  branches,  organic  parts  of  the  church 
yet  with  a  distinctive  existence,  frequently  with  build- 
ings and  one  or  more  employed  workers  for  each 
branch,  where  a  large  amount  of  ministry  to  foreigners 
is  conducted.   The  Ninth  Street  Baptist  Church,  Cin- 


150 


THE  NEW  AMERICA 


cinnati,  Ohio,  is  a  conspicuous  instance  of  this  kind  of 
ministry.  A  still  larger  number  of  churches  minister 
to  immigrants  through  mission  Sunday  schools  and 
services. 

Individual  Service. — When  it  comes  to  the  actual 
doing  of  the  work  it  is  always  and  only  done  by 
individuals.  Machinery  cannot  evangelize  nor  as- 
similate human  beings.  The  workers  connected 
with  organizations  are  useful  at  last  only  through 
their  personality.  In  addition  to  all  that  is  done 
in  connection  with  organizations,  both  great  and 
small,  an  innumerable  multitude  of  Christian  men  and 
women  of  the  older  American  stock  must  actually  show 
the  spirit  of  Christ  to  the  newer  Americans  if  they  are 
to  be  won  to  Him  and  in  any  degree  to  the  old  ideals  of 
our  country.  There  is  no  larger  service  to  be  rendered 
to  America,  to  humanity  and  to  our  Lord,  than  for 
Christian  men  and  women  to  show  by  manner  and  by 
deed  that  they  count  as  brethren  and  welcome  their 
new  neighbors  from  over  the  sea.  Having  first  done 
this  in  a  general  and  unmistakable  way,  then  to  sit 
down  beside  them,  one  by  one,  before  an  open  Bible 
and  teach  them  at  the  same  time  the  language  which 
they  so  much  need  and,  through  the  Biblical  material, 
the  ideas  and  spirit  which  have  made  the  best  of  the 
nation  what  it  is,  this  is  one  of  the  most  God-like 
services  in  which  any  follower  of  Christ  can  engage. 


POSSIBILITIES  OF  THE  FUTURE 


In  the  new  day  of  the  free  circulation  of  humanity 
over  the  globe,  population,  like  water  seeking  its  level, 


GUIDING  AND  INSPIRING  AGENCIES  151 


will  have  a  strong  and  ever  stronger  tendency  to  come 
to  equilibrium,  filling  all  unoccupied  spaces.  Three 
hundred  million  souls  may  find  a  home  in  the  United 
States  without  crowding  together  as  much  as  people 
are  crowded  even  now  in  some  of  the  prosperous  coun- 
tries of  the  world.  In  the  eastern  sections  of  America 
large  cities,  even  whole  states,  now  have  two-thirds 
of  their  people  of  foreign-born  parentage.  It  is  truly 
a  New  America  in  which  we  live — as  new  as  it  was 
in  the  days  of  the  Pilgrims.  In  the  West  the  condition 
is  still  more  acute.  On  the  western  half  of  the  con- 
tinental United  States,  according  to  the  census  of  1910, 
only  13  per  cent  of  the  population  of  the  whole  country 
dwelt,  but  18  per  cent  of  the  foreign-born  of  the  whole 
country.  Not  only  is  the  proportion  of  foreigners 
greater  than  in  the  country  at  large,  but  the  institutions 
and  traditions  of  life  being  less  firmly  established  and 
the  forces  of  evangelical  religion  being  fewer,  the  bear- 
ing of  the  foreign  element  is  far  more  decisive. 

This  relative  condition  is  likely  to  increase  rather 
than  diminish.  Heretofore  the  great  cost  of  two  or 
three  thousand  miles  of  railroad  transit  from  the  At- 
lantic ports  of  entry  has  largely  prevented  direct 
European  migration  to  the  Pacific  slope.  With  the 
opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  that  prohibition  is  re- 
moved. The  possibilities  of  population  on  the  west- 
ern side  of  the  continent  are  not  matters  of  conjecture 
but  of  demonstration.  One  of  the  nine  republics  of 
North  America,  that  of  El  Salvador,  has  only  a  Pacific 
Ocean  seaboard.  Though  it  is  densely  populated  it  is 
one  of  the  most  prosperous  of  the  North  American 
sisterhood  of  republics,  next  to  our  own.    The  State 


152  THE  NEW  A:MERICA 


of  California  can  easily  support  as  many  people  per 
square  mile.  When  it  does  it  will  have  forty  million 
souls.  According  to  the  Salvadorean  standard  the 
continental  United  States  might  have  eight  hundred 
and  fifty  million  inhabitants,  or  one-half  the  present 
estimated  population  of  the  entire  globe. 

The  world-neighbors  are  actually  dropping  in  here, 
not  one  by  one,  now  and  then,  but  two  every  minute 
day  and  night,  year  in  and  year  out.  Are  we  giving 
them  adequate  Christian  welcome  or  anything  like  it? 
Then,  too,  they  are  going  back  to  the  Old  World  every 
year  three  hundred  thousand  strong.  What  impression 
do  they  carry  from  us  as  to  our  Lord — as  to  the  real 
Master  of  us?  Is  it  Christ  or  Mammon?  What  a 
matchless  chance  is  here  for  the  redemption  of  the  Old 
World  and  the  whole  world !  There  was  never  any- 
thing like  it  before  since  Jesus  rose  with  scarred  hands 
above  the  slopes  of  Olivet  and  sent  His  voice  ringing 
down  the  ages,  "  Make  disciples  of  all  the  nations." 


APPENDIX 

(Prepared  by  Lemuel  Call  Barnes) 


TABLE  I 


Foreign-speaking  Work  of 

HOME  MISSION  SOCIETIES  AND  BOARDS* 

(In  Continental  United  States  only  and  not  including  work  for 
American  Indians.) 

1912 


LUTHERAN  t 


Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  of  the  Ev.  Lutheran 
Church  in  the  U.  S  Baltimore 

Woman's  Home  and  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  Gen.  Synod 
of  the  Ev.  Lutheran  Church  in 
the  U-  S  Springfield,  Ohio 

The  General  Council  of  the  Ev. 
Lutheran  Church  in  North  Amer- 
ica  Philadelphia 

(Practically  the  whole  work  of  the  follow- 
ing general  bodies  is  caring  for  unchurched 
immigrants  of  the  Lutheran  faith,  but  the 
figures  given  are  of  what  might  strictly  be 
called  their  Home  Missions.) 

German  Missouri  Synod   St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Synod  of  Wisconsin,  Minnesota  and 

Michigan   Milwaukee 

Joint  Synod  of  Ohio  Columbus,  Ohio 

Norwegian  Ev.  Lutheran  Synod  of 

America   Norway  Lake,  Minn. 

Hauge's  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod 

of  America   

United  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church  t 

in  America   St.  Paul,  Minn. 

The  Norwegian  Free  Church  Minneapolis,  Minn. 


Mission- 
aries 


Amount 
Expended 


30      $  8,570.00 


278 


363 

369 

400 

"5 


2,000.00 
114,236.52 


40,000.00 
14,000.00 
44,000.00 


1,679  $225,806.52 

*  All  Boards  doing  work  in  continental  U.  S.  were  asked  to  give  data. 
Several  replied  that  they  are  not  doing  this  kind  of  work.  A  number  of  the 
Women's  Boards  are  strictly  auxiliary,  and  so  give  no  data  apart  from 
those  of  their  general  denominational  boards. 

t  The  alphabetical  order  is  departed  from  in  putting  the  Lutheran  first. 
This  is  not  only  because  in  several  respects  it  is  naturally  the  first  to  be 
thought  of  in  connection  with  Protestant  work  among  Europeans,  but  also 
because  the  figures  in  this  table  for  all  the  other  denominations  are  only 
for  missionary  societies  and  boards,  while  for  Lutherans  the  figures  are 
partly  for  such  strictly  missionary  agencies  and  partly  for  entire  Lutheran 
bodies. 

153 


154,  APPENDIX 

AnvFMXTCx  Mission-  Amount 

ADVENTIST  aries  Expended 

Seventh-day AdventistMissionBoard.  Washington,  D.  C.  34      $  10,509.00 

BAPTIST 

American  Baptist  Home  Mission  So- 
ciety  New  York,  N.  Y.  282  60,709.80 

Woman's  American    Baptist  Home 

Mission  Society   Chicago,  111.  108  50,000.00 

American  Baptist  Publication  So- 
ciety Philadelphia,  Pa.  39  20,443.38 

Home  Mission  Board  of  the  South- 
ern Baptist  Convention  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Woman's  Baptist  Missionary  Union.  Atlanta,  Ga.  19  9,000.00 

Scandinavian    Independent  Baptist 

Denomination   Britt,  la.  6  3,000.00 

CHRISTIAN 
Woman's  Board  for  Home  Missions 

of  the  Christian  Church  Dayton,  Ohio  i  1,000.00 

CONGREGATIONAL 
Congregational     Home  Missionary 

Society   New  York,  N.  Y.  354  151,900.00 

American  Missionary  Association. ..  New  York,  N.  Y.  43  17,650.00 
Congregational    Sunday-school  and 

Publication  Society   Boston,  Mass.  9  1,870.00 

Church  Building  Aid  Society   27,900.00 

Congregational  Education  Society...  21,570.00 

DISCIPLES 

American  Christian  Missionary  So- 
ciety  Cincinnati,  Ohio  6  5,900.00 

Christian  Woman's  Board  of  Mis- 
sions  Indianapolis,  Ind.  20  25.000.00 

METHODIST  • 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and 
Church  Extension  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  Philadelphia,  Pa.  800  276,350.00 

Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society 

of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church .  Cincinnati,  Ohio  79  94,040.00 

Board  of  Missions  of  the  Methodist 

Episcopal  Church  (South)  Nashville,  Tenn.  176  26,500.00 

Woman's  Missionary  Council,  Home 

Department  M.  E.  Church  (South)  Nashville,  Tenn.  57  51,791.9$ 

MORAVIAN 
Society  of  the  United  Brethren  for 

Propagating  the  Gospel  Bethlehem,  Pa.  6  3.365-00 

PENTECOSTAL  CHURCH  OF  THE  NAZARENE 
Gen.  Missionary  Board  of  the  Pente- 
costal Church  of  the  Nazarene. .  .  Chicago,  111.  6  2,000.00 

PRESBYTERIAN 
Board   of   Home   Missions  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S. 

of  America                                   New  York,  N.  Y.  284        i53. 332  00 

Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions 
of  the  Presbvterian  Church  in  the 

U.  S.  of  .America  New  York,  N.  Y.  24  33.773-i'> 

Board  of  Publication  and  Sunday- 
school  Work   20  27,001.00 

Executive  Committee  of  Home  Mis- 
sions of  thp  Presbvterian  Church 

in  the  U.  S.  (South)  Atlanta,  Ga.  50  25,300.00 

*  The  figures  do  not  include  deaconesses,  of  which  there  are  more  than 

1,000  in  service,  a  large  proportion  of  them  doing  city  mission  work  among 
foreigners. 


APPENDIX 


155 


Board   of  Home   Missions   of   the  Mission-  Amount 

United    Presbyterian    Church    of  Expended 

North  America                              Pittsburg,  Pa.  i8  $15,300.00 

Woman's  Gen.  Missionary  Society 
of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church 

of  North  America  Pittsburg,  Pa.  4  4,398.00 

Central  Board  of  Missions  of  the 

Reformed  Presbyterian  Church. ..  Pittsburg,  Pa.  i  2,500.00 

PPvOTESTANT  EPISCOPAL 
Domestic   and    Foreign  Missionary 
Society    of    the    Protestant  Epis- 
copal  Church    in   the   U.    S.  of 

America   New  York,  N.  Y.  3  4,000.00 

REFORMED 

Board  of  Domestic  Missions  of  the 

Reformed  Church  in  America ....  New  York,  N.  Y.  96  42,507.00 

Woman's  Board  of  Domestic  Mis- 
sions of  the  Reformed  Church  in 

America   New  York,  N.  Y.  3  3,000.00 

Board  of  Home  Missions,  Reformed 

Church  in  U.  S  Philadelphia,  Pa.  16  8,975.00 

Woman's  Home  and  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  the  Reformed 

Church  in  the  U.  S  General  Synod  7,800.00 

UNITED  BRETHREN 
Woman's  Missionary  Association  of 

the  United  Brethren  in  Christ. ..  Huntington,  Ind.  13  890.00 

UNITED  EVANGELICAL 
Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety  of  the   United  Evangelical 

Church   Penbrook,  Pa.  8  2,100.00 

2,587  $1,191,375.26 

KINDRED  BODIES* 

American  Bible  Society   200     $  100,000.00 

American  Tract  Society   53  30,000.00 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association   29  50,000.00 

Young  Women's  Christian  Association   ii  23,000.00 

Salvation  Army    221  122,314.00 

514     $  325.314.00 

GRAND  TOTALS t 

Lutheran  Bodies    1,679     $  225,806.52 

Missionary  Boards    2,587  1,191,375.26 

Kindred  Bodies    514  325,314.00 

4,780'  $1,742,495.78 


*  The  figures  given  here  are  official  estimates  in  rvrt.  They  represent 
only  work  exclusively  or  chiefly  for  foreigners.  All  these  organizations 
have  many  more  workers  with  corresponding  outlay  in  part  for  foreigners. 

+  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  is  only  a  small  part  of  what  the 
evangelical  churches  are  doing  for  immigrants.  For  example,  the  items  in 
this  table  amount  to  only  one-seventh  of  the  work  of  Northern  Baptists  for 
immigrants  shown  in  Table  II.  In  addition  to  that,  vast  amounts  of  work 
by  all  denominations  in  this  field  are  not  subject  to  tabulation.  But  if 
the  above  ascertained  aggregate  should  be  multiplied  by  only  seven  it  would 
give  a  total  of  ten  million  dollars. 


156 


APPENDIX 


TABLE  II 

Foreign-speaking  Work  of 

DENOMINATIONS  (AVAILABLE  SAMPLES) 

Among  Specified  Nationalities 

Table  I  showed  the  work  of  general  Home  Mission  Societies 
and  Boards  in  only  two  particulars.  Table  II  shows  the  entire 
work  in  nine  particulars  among  nationalities  reached  by  the  de- 
nominations named,  including  both  work  sustained  by  various 
agencies  and  self-supporting  work.  The  tables  are  incomplete  in 
spite  of  all  the  pains  taken.  Additions  and  corrections  are  so- 
licited. It  should  be  especially  remembered  that  the  church 
members  given  are  only  those  in  the  foreign-speaking  churches. 
There  are  large  numbers,  perhaps  as  many  more,  in  English- 
speaking  churches. 


CONGREGATIONALISTS 


Nationality 

Churches 

and 
Missions 

Members 

in 

Pupils 

Salaried 
Men 

Annual 
Expend. 

When 
Work 
Began 

English 
Classes 

Pupils 

I 

$  400 

J909 

.  29 

501 

6 

277 

14 

9.762 

1883 

I 

20 

.  28 

868 

8 

555 

19 

8,831 

1887 

256 

22 

16 

7,733 

1890 

S 

233 

Dano-Norweg  . 

.  80 

3,000 

81 

700 

55 

36,250 

1849 

I 

I 

.  50 

520 

24 

933 

24 

7.436 

1888 

9 

450 

8 

250 

6 

3,500 

1876 

12,891 

150,000 

1847 

•  14 

41 

I 

9 

16 

2,856 

1895 

I 

.  44 

i>30i 

797 

42 

9,000 

1,207 

15,094 

1899 

I 

5 

520 

18 

8,733 

:9oo 

9 

393 

Polish   

90 

2 

90 

3 

1,800 

Portuguese  . . . 

4 

I 

13 

8 

1,087 

1909 

I 

I 

38 

2 

81 

2 

775 

1897 

I 

X 

23 

56 

I 

600 

1008 

Welsh   

■  37 
8 

2,400 

35 

2,000 

30 

12,010 

1848 

216 

200 

7 

5.000 

Croatian   

I 

15 

20 

I 

700 

60 

40 

2 

850 

Swede-Finn.  . 

I 

20 

20 

I 

600 

1907 

30 

30 

2 

900 

62 

30 

I 

900 

•  117 

8,729 

105 

7,824 

lOI 

121,211 

S 

151 

8 

266 

21 

12,334 

1882 

Bulgarian   .  .  . 

I 

1.500 

1888 

26 

724 

33,389 

316 

14,191 

39S 

$419,862 

20 

656 

APPENDIX 


157 


NORTHERN  BAPTISTS 


4J  U 

c  2 


Nationality     -^o    -S^  ^-3  «    -^^  =  |  Ji-i2<  »! 

i|  5-g  §•  -alS  -Sol  -a 

Bohemian                  8  456  7  1,350  4  2  $  6,361.00 

Danish                     S3  3,874  54  3,016  45  4  43,3i3-23  25  3!0 

Chinese                    12  209  5  155  3  9  8,450.00  18  98 

Finnish                   12  417  7  292  10  2  5,392.00  3  21 

French                     24  723  10  305  12  i  10,591.00  2  55 

German  369  30,746  355  24,894  268  24  327,614.94  2  26 

Hollandish                i  11  7500 

Hungarian               19  264  13  416  13  s  17,450.00  15  150 

Greek                        2  13  2  150.00 

Italian                      58  1,494  40  3,497  51  "  24.724.74  36  451 

Japanese                   2  73  2  3  2  1,700.00 

Jewish                        I  I  600.00 

Lettish                      S  481  4  115  4  5,500.00  i  10 

Norwegian    ....    41  2,040  24  1,223  36  6  25,234.00 

Polish                      14  598  10  540  9  2  5,950.00  4  80 

Portuguese    ....      3  86  3  118  4  2,720.00  i  i 

Roumanian    ....      7  233  2  75  5  i  2,300.00  i  14 

Russian                     8  340  9  460  7  2  4,700.00  7  84 

Ruthenian                  i  45 

Slovenian                   2  25  i  50  i  1,092.00 

Slovak                      13  380  5  235  9  3  7,700.00  2  30 

Spanish-speaking      7  24  7  185  s  3  4,700.00  i 

Swedish                  374  27,929  356  22,208  232  7  351,847.02  9  250 

Syrian                       2  16  2  179  :  3  1,586.73  i 

24              1,038  70,466  916  59,313  725  89  $860,751.66  128  1,580 


PRESBYTERIANS,  U.  S.  A. 


Nationality  S'o" 

U  S 

Bohemian    ....  41 

Other  Slavic.  20 
Magyar 

(Hungarian).  34 

Italian    74 

French    6 

Scandinavian    .  i 

Welsh    3 

Syrian    4 

Armenian    ....  5 

Chinese    9 

Japanese    9 

Korean    4 

Persian    i 

Spanish 

(Mexican)  . .  44 

German    139 


c 


39 
17 

24 
49 
5 
I 

3 
3 
4 
6 
4 
4 


44 
137 


Accessions 

o  a 

Exam.  Certif. 


177 
57 


132 
915 


1,910 
702 


437      132  2,546 
840        85  3,821 
29         6  714 
9  93 
6       20  158 
94 

34        13  327 
19         7  240 
26        12  393 
560 


37  1,507 
61  14,401 


^_  Beneficence 

1 1  Boards  Congre- 

m  in  gallon 

2,625  $  1,800  $  18,394 

993  334  4.334 

788  1,089  13.883 

4,668  663  12,941 

661  633  9,594 

40  12  448 

60  45  2,570 

10  385 

415  388  4,074 

234  2,127  1,442 

79  28  2,096 
1,446 

75  307 

973  S03  5,io8 

17,592  26,106  216,841 


IS 


394     341     2,691     399  27,466    29,213  $33,728  $293,863 


168 


APPENDIX 


SUMMARY 

Including  se^'cral  items  not  in  the  foregoing  tables 

123456  7  8 

Congregation- 
alists 

27  Languages.    724    33.389     316    14,191     392      30  $  419,862  $  33,734 
Methodists  * 
(North) 

8  Languages.  1,220    88,045  i,i9i    84,745     800    300  276,350 
Northern 
Baptists 

24  Languages.  1,038    70,466     916    59,313     725     89      860,751  55,000 
Presbyterians, 
U.  S.  A. 

15  Languages.    394    27,466  29,213     284     35      700,000  84,766 

3,376  219,366  2,423  187,462  2,201   454  $2,256,963  $175,500 

*  It  should  be  observed  that  the  Methodist  data  in  the  first  four  columns 
are  for  only  the  eight  nationalities  for  which  they  have  as  yet  compiled  the 
figures.  The  fifth  and  sixth  columns  give  the  entire  number  of  foreign- 
speaking  salaried  workers,  but  are  estimates  rather  than  statistics.  The 
seventh  column  is  only  the  amount  expended  by  the  Board  of  Home  Mis- 
sions. If  the  facts  were  ascertainable  corresponding  to  those  of  the  other 
denomiRations,  this  item  might  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  one  million  dollars. 


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Clark  Barnes.    New  York  :  Fleming  H.  Revell  Co.,  1912. 

"Elemental  Forces  in  Home  Missions,"  Lemuel  Call  Barnes. 
New  York  :  Fleming  H.  Revell  Co.,  1912. 

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Teachers,  1902.  First  Reader,  1911.  Second  Reader,  1912. 
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160 


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PRINTED  m  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


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Date  Due 

^    ,  rr  M»» 

U  A" 

iV  3  -  4': 

T  ■, 

